New state grant program for community colleges announced

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Governor Jay Nixon announced $12 million in grants for community colleges to expand Missourian's educational opportunities in high-tech fields so they can find work in growing industries. The grants will help the community colleges create or expand existing programs to serve additional students.

"Last fall, I toured many of Missouri's community colleges to hear directly about the needs of workers and businesses in their areas," Nixon said. "In those conversations, it became clear that to turn this economy around, more Missourians need access to training programs in high-tech, high-demand fields. Especially in growing industries like health care, technical training beyond high school is absolutely vital, but many of our community colleges simply don't have the equipment, instructors or resources to meet the needs of Missouri's workers. Training for Tomorrow will expand these programs quickly and help get Missourians ready to work as soon as possible."

The funds can cover all costs related to developing or expanding high-demand programs, but the funds can't be used to replace existing salaries, pay for existing overhead costs, or cover "bricks-and-mortar" projects.

Under Training for Tomorrow, member institutions of the Missouri Community College Association will partner with the government of the county in which they are located to apply for grant dollars to develop or expand programs to train Missourians in technical fields.

Occupations specifically targeted by these funds could include veterinary and pharmacy technicians, nursing aides or skilled craftsmen.

Getting a grant will not be easy, it is a competitive bidding process and institutions hoping for a piece of the pie will have to address several issues to even be considered.

Schools applying will have to outline the actions they will take to expand capacity of their programs, detail the demand by both students and employers, identify community partners from business and industry who can help design the programs, show that the expansion will create or add paths to specific high-demand careers in the local market, and draft an implementation plan for the programs.

Donna Thomas, director of the Nevada campus of Crowder College, said she had been looking at several courses and thought the medical education program would be expanded with the funds, if grant funds come Crowder's way.

"We've already added some classes, the Medical Office class has been added already this year," Thomas said. "The Medical Records classes that are part of it are online."

Thomas said she would like to add other classes in the medical field.

"I'd like to add a CNA class," Thomas said.

Whatever happens it has to be quickly -- the deadline for getting a completed application in is Feb. 10, 2010.

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