Eighteen community colleges are joining the ranks of the Metallica Scholars Initiative, the popular workforce development effort created by the rock band Metallica to assist community college students.
With the addition of the sixth cohort, 60 colleges in all 50 states now participate in the initiative managed by All Within My Hands (AWMH), the band’s non-profit, philanthropic organization. The added colleges will each receive $75,000 to enhance the student experience within career and technical education programs, according to a news release.
The colleges are:
- Arkansas Northeastern College
- Bismarck State College (North Dakota)
- College of Southern Nevada
- College of Western Idaho
- Community College of Allegheny County (Pennsylvania)
- Community College of Rhode Island
- Community College of Vermont
- Community College System of New Hampshire
- CT State Community College Asnuntuck (Connecticut)
- Delaware Technical Community College
- Eastern Maine Community College
- Flathead Valley Community College (Montana)
- Guam Community College
- Honolulu Community College (Hawaii)
- Ivy Tech Fort Wayne/Warsaw Campus (Indiana)
- Tulsa Community College (Oklahoma)
- University of Alaska-Anchorage
- West Georgia Technical College*
*Pending AACC membership
“Trade skills are vital to society, and what’s even more important is to support the many folks who are trying to create a career by learning and using these skills. I am so proud — we all are — to see how this program is changing lives by providing much-needed resources to empower students, and it’s great that we’re able to make our biggest grant yet to support these students and the future workforce,” said Metallica’s James Hetfield, who co-founded the band in 1981.
AWMH has invested a total of more than $10 million in the Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI) since 2019, when it was launched in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). It began with 10 colleges and primarily manufacturing programs and has since expanded into programs in areas such as construction, healthcare and engineering.
AACC President and CEO Walter Bumphus noted the importance of the program in helping students attend programs that lead to good-paying jobs and careers.
“This work helps to advance skills education and the nation’s workforce pipeline,” Bumphus said. “We are honored to continue this partnership to provide critical resources that eliminate barriers for students to participate in skills education programs that lead to family-sustaining wage careers.”
By the end of year six, AWMH estimates that the initiative will have helped more than 8,000 students, who are considered non-traditional students, as many have families they support or are the first in their families to pursue a college education.
