Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in New York City will use a $100,000 grant from Trinity Church Wall Street to expand BMCC Project Impact, a program designed to support justice-involved students with educational programs and other services.
The purpose of Project Impact is to support our students through their many challenges by providing them access to wraparound services and consistent support, said Julie Appel, project director. Project Impact opened in January 2019 with one student and now serves more than 100 students who have been formerly incarcerated, have a sibling or parent who has been incarcerated or arrested, have had issues in family court or were in any way affected by the justice system., she said.
Thanks to the grant funding, Project Impact will add to its programs and support more of these students.
BMCC is among 56 recipients of nearly $7 million total in Trinity grants awarded to end systemic racism in New York City and offering alternative models for a new vision of how New Yorkers can reach their potential and thrive.
Florida
Miami Dade College (MDC) and Florida International University (FIU) have received grants totaling $3 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand support to humanities students at MDC who transfer to FIU and foster collaboration between MDC and FIU faculty.
The MDC-FIU humanities partnership was established in 2017 with grants from the Mellon Foundation. With the new funding, the partnership adds several new areas of focus, including a new MDC cohort of humanities majors mentored throughout the academic year up through the summer bridge program hosted at FIU. Both institutions will implement peer writing mentorship programs. There will be career development curriculum around ethnographies of work at FIU. There also will be faculty development seminars on best practices in humanities pedagogy and research, undergraduate research conferences, career fairs and more.
In other MDC news, the college’s Miami Book Fair (MBF) has received a $25,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for its 2020-21 Generation Genius programs, a group of literacy and learning initiatives designed to engage youth of all ages in learning through reading and writing.
The funds will support literary activities for children at the 2020 Miami Book Fair in November and throughout the year, including special programming.
North Carolina
Cape Fear Community College’s (CFCC’s) chemical technology program has received a $470,415 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This is the college’s third grant through NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program.
The grant will help to increase awareness of the chemical technology program and career options in the field. Other grant activities will include establishing a paid internship program with Quality Chemical Laboratories and creating a summer academy that will provide stipends for STEM educators to participate and receive laboratory training in fields of forensics, pharmaceutical, environmental, cosmetics and food chemistry.
“This grant will help our students get real, hands-on training locally,” said CFCC President Jim Morton. “In addition, local STEM teachers will benefit. It is a terrific investment in our students, teachers, and local industry.”
Elsewhere in North Carolina, Randolph Community College will receive a $3,600 grant to help farmers affected by the decline of tobacco-related employment. The grant will allow the college to provide scholarships for impacted farmers to participate in continuing education programs at RCC.
The grant came through the North Carolina Community College System’s Project Skill Up and is part of the Tobacco Trust Fund’s efforts to help individuals and communities hit hard by the economic shifts around the state’s tobacco industry and to fund programs that mitigate the general decline in the tobacco-related segment of the state economy.
At Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, a $12,500 grant to the Small Business Center will assist small businesses in recovering from the effects of COVID-19. The funding from Wells Fargo will provide free business counseling and assessment to help qualifying business owners create smart strategies for moving forward.
The BRACE (Business Rebound as COVID-19 Evolves) program will support five professional business coaches who will help 50 businesses in developing response and recovery efforts related to COVID-19. Each coach will partner with 10 small business owners to assist them in evaluating their needs and formulating new strategies.
Ohio
Lakeland Community College’s annual, women-focused art exhibit gained the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, which awarded the college a $10,000 grant. The exhibit will open in February and feature the theme of women’s right to vote, which celebrates its centennial in 2020.
The grant funds will allow for the development of an online calendar guide and interactive map of all Northeast Ohio gallery and studio art exhibitions that will celebrate the milestone during National Women’s History Month in March.
Pennsylvania
Northampton Community College’s Emerging Technology Applications Center (ETAC) has received a two-year $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to participate in the Rural Energy for America Program. ETAC will provide no-cost technical assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to identify and assess renewable energy alternatives that can lead to cost-saving energy alternatives.
Washington
Tacoma Community College (TCC) will use a $174,812 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to compensate up to 50 humanities faculty through the conversion of courses to an online format and the adoption of open educational resources (OER). Working with current e-learning expectations and best practices, TCC faculty will provide digital humanities education experiences. The courses built will not only serve an immediate need in the COVID-19 era, they also will serve TCC students for many years, according to a release from the college.
The NEH CARES: Cultural Organizations grant funds organizations affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Wisconsin
Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) will expand its technology scholarship program thanks to a $40,000 donation from American Family Insurance. It will allow all MATC Promise students access to a Chromebook and a hotspot for internet connectivity for one year if they don’t currently have access to them. A limited number of Chromebooks and hotspots also will be available to the entire student population.
“Access to technology has become a lifeline for students to remain in school. Many in our student body experience the digital divide and lack sufficient computer access and reliable internet. Through this and other funding partnerships, we are able to meet this need,” said MATC President Vicki Martin.
American Family Insurance also donated $10,000 to the MATC Foundation’s Dreamkeepers’ Fund for student emergency grants.
