Holyoke Community College (HCC) will use a $1.89 million federal grant to help families affected by opioid use.
The funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will enhance the Massachusetts college’s existing community health worker (CHW) training program by providing training for an additional 100 individuals as CHWs. The goal is to increase the number of people qualified CHWs in medically underserved communities.
Each program participant will receive $3,000 for tuition, fees and supplies, and a $5,000 stipend while they’re in first-level training. HCC also will use the grant to create a registered apprenticeship program with the college’s partners that will be the first of its kind in western Massachusetts.
“We all know someone who suffers from this epidemic,” Rep. Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts) said in announcing the grant at HCC. “This disease touches all people from all walks of life. We must continue to work together to combat this critical public health and safety issue, and I am grateful for the good work HCC continues to do in this realm.”
Also in the state, Massachusetts Bay Community College (MassBay) will use a $300,000 NEH grant for remote and online instructional training for adjunct faculty. Specifically, the grant will allow MassBay to provide professional development for 40 adjunct faculty who use content from the fields of humanities and the social sciences.
Florida
Miami Dade College received two U.S. Department of Education grants totaling nearly $500,000 through the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program. The college will use the funds to improve science and engineering education programs, and to increase the number of minority graduates in STEM programs.
Illinois
Heartland Community College will use $300,000 from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund to close equity gaps intensified by the pandemic.
Heading into August, enrollment of underrepresented students at Heartland was down 24 percent from the previous fall. Enrollment of first-generation students was down 17 percent in the same comparison. Heartland is extending efforts to reach out to students eligible for GEER-funded assistance. Eligible students may receive stipends, tuition assistance and funding for technology to complement student support provided by the Heartland financial aid, registration, advisement, tutoring and counseling staff.
Kentucky
Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) has received a $261,888 grant from the U.S. Education Department (ED) to provide more support services to low-income, first-generation and disabled students.
“As a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, I know how important it is to ensure that students – particularly first-generation, low-income, or disabled students – have the resources necessary to complete their education,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky), who announced the grant. “Student loan debt is crippling for many but it is often worse for students who never even finish their degree. This grant will allow OCTC to give students the support they need to succeed and to finish their education at OCTC.”
Support services include academic advising, tutoring support, career advising, cultural enrichment activities and assistance in applying or financial aid.
Maryland
The College of Southern Maryland’s (CSM) Southern Maryland Studies Center received $25,500 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support a project to transcribe 40 oral interviews documenting the history and culture of southern Maryland.
The grant will allow the college to retain an archives assistant who is already collecting and transcribing select oral histories that give voice to minorities and speak of their lives in the area during times of segregation, the influenza epidemic and the Great Depression.
CSM was among 317 recipients of NEH’s CARES Act economic stabilization grant that is providing more than $40 million to support essential operations at cultural institutions across the country.
New York
Bronx and Hostos community colleges will use a $225,975 grant to smooth transfer pathways for students. The Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT) program, funded by the Heckscher Foundation for Children, will help students transferring to Lehman College for bachelor’s degrees to keep the credits they’ve earned.
“This is an under-researched, under-appreciated issue,” says Bronx Community College project leader Alexander Ott, associate dean for curriculum matters and academic programs. “But it’s incredibly important because transfer credit represents time and money to our students.”
Though the program will focus on Bronx and Hostos community colleges, its effect may eventually serve all students in the City University of New York system — and ultimately, students nationwide, according to a release.
Rockland Community College (RCC) can support more students from disadvantaged backgrounds thanks to a five-year, $261,888 grant from the U.S. Education Department’s Student Support Services Program.
“Those students will receive extra support beyond what is already available to them through the college’s offerings to ensure that they will be successful in their studies and ‘real-world ready’ upon their graduation,” said RCC President Michael Baston.
Twenty-three percent of enrolled students at RCC are low income, 42 percent are first-generation college students and 6 percent have a declared disability. The RCC TRIO Student Support Services program will serve 150 eligible participants, of which 101 will be low-income and first-generation with academic need, and up to 49 with disabilities will be served. At least one-third of students with disabilities served also will be low-income.
