College of Southern Maryland (CSM) received a $100,000 donation from the Matin family to create the Shaheen A. Matin Class of 1990 CSM Memorial Scholarship Endowment. The scholarship will support students studying in the college’s early childhood and childcare programs.
Shaheen Matin, who died in 2014, was born in Pakistan and came to America at age 18 with her husband. She earned her certificate at CSM to provide child care in 1985 and went on to earn her associate degree in childhood education in 1990 – all the while running her business and raising her family.
“She embodied the American dream,” said her son Hammad. He and his sister, Seema, and brother, Sajjad, presented the $100,000 gift to the CSM Foundation.
In coming months, CSM will dedicate a room in the Community Education (CE) Building at the La Plata Campus to Shaheen, and name the CE Lab, “The Shaheen A. Matin Early Childhood Lab ‘90.”
Alabama
The Alabama Community College System and partner NextFlex have received $250,000 from Boeing. The funding will fuel the local adoption of NextFlex’s workforce development program, FlexFactor, aimed at preparing the next generation of advanced manufacturing workers. Through the partnership, local students will have the opportunity to participate in a multi-week experience to kickstart their advanced manufacturing career paths.
Students also will engage with participating local colleges and community colleges, including J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College and Calhoun Community College, to help them with the next steps after completing FlexFactor.
Florida
Northwest Florida State College’s Veterans Success Center gained the support of Gulf Power Foundation, which pledged $150,000 toward the project. The gift will enhance the operational capacity of the center, which will provide a one-stop shop for service programs and educational and transitional learning for veterans and their families.
The Veterans Success Center is scheduled to open in spring 2019.
Northwest Florida State College received funding for its Veterans Success Center. (Photo: NWF)
Louisiana
The Louisiana Community and Technical College System will use a $50,000 donation from Healthy Blue Louisiana to provide scholarships for students enrolled in health sciences programs. The scholarships will help students purchase the required textbooks, uniforms and other supplies.
Louisiana Delta Community College (LDCC) has plans to increase the number of well-trained commercial motor vehicle operators using a grant of nearly $113,000 from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The funding will help students — in particular, student veterans — access training through scholarships and other funds.
“Considering about 51,000 drivers are needed to meet the national demand in the shipping/trucking industry, LDCC is finding creative ways of making this four-week training more accessible and affordable,” said Dean Baugh, LDCC’s executive director of economic and workforce development.
Michigan
Grand Rapids Community College’s English as a Second Language Integrated Workforce Training Program got a boost with a $100,000 grant from the Fifth Third Bank Foundation. The GRCC program helps residents build language skills in the context of technical vocabulary, employability skills and job readiness outcomes. Students work with a success coach who provides intensive counseling, financial literacy education and case management services.
With the new grant, GRCC can help residents learn English while training for careers in one of three high-demand occupations in manufacturing: welding, machining and certified production technician.
North Carolina
Wake Technical Community College’s Finish First initiative is expanding thanks to a $552,000 grant through Lumina Foundation’s Adult Promise Program. The grant was awarded to a consortium that includes Wake Tech, the University of North Carolina system and the North Carolina Community College System Office. Wake Tech plans to take the first step toward scaling its completion program statewide. Finish First is a data tool created at Wake Tech to help students and their advisors chart the shortest path to successful completion of degrees, diplomas and certificates. The Lumina grant will enable Wake Tech to share the technology with an initial group of community colleges across the state.
“With our computer program, we’re making sure that every student who has earned a certificate along the way to an associate degree is awarded that credential,” Senior Vice President Bryan Ryan said in a release. “In some cases, we’re finding students who have earned credentials with labor market value and didn’t realize it. Our program also identifies students within striking distance of completing and advises them of their fastest route to a credential.”
The tool was launched in the 2016-17 academic year. That year, more than 8,200 degrees, diplomas and certificates were awarded at the college – nearly twice as many as in the previous year.
Tennessee
Pellissippi State Community College received a $25,000 donation from CBBC Bank to support the college’s workforce development programs.
“Choosing to make an investment in workforce development programs gives local people a greater opportunity to stay in our community, creating a better livelihood for everyone,” said CBBC Bank President and CEO Mike Baker.
