The Board of Trustees from Carl Sandburg College last week approved the acceptance of five external grants, giving the school over a million dollars in funding for various programs.
In total, the community college board approved over $1,017,921.68 in grants that will go towards managing the COVID-19 pandemic, helping minority students, and helping students and community members outside of the classroom.
The College was awarded $478,468 in federal funds from the Supplemental Support Under the American Rescue Plan Act grant. These funds are intended to reimburse schools for lost tuition revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as direct assistance grants for students.
An award of $256,537 was accepted for the Pipeline for the Advancement of Healthcare Workers grant that will fund projects that support and expand pathways for students entering healthcare programs. Such programs include nursing, radiologic technology, medical assisting, emergency medical technician, magnetic resonance imaging, and phlebotomy. These funds will be used to build program capacity, provide direct student support, acquire equipment for training, provide a scholarship for textbooks, and cover software and supply fees for students.
The Illinois Community College Board College Bridge grant of $220,000 was awarded to Sandburg to be used to build a cohort model for nontraditional students that will include student-focused programming, academic support, direct student support grants, and professional development for faculty and staff. ICCB Bridge grants such as this are designed to provide minority, first-generation, low-income students with the skills and resources needed to succeed as they transition to community college from high school or the workforce.
The Early Childhood Education Access Consortium for Equity grant worth $60,416.68 will be used to support Sandburg’s course-sharing abilities within Illinois Community Colleges Online (ILCCO), conduct an internal review of the College’s ILCCO management process, and participate in training on the ILCCO sharing system.
The final grant, worth $2,500, from the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri, will be used to complete the expansion of the food pantry at Sandburg’s Branch Campus in Carthage into a larger, permanent space in addition to providing supplies and hygiene items for students and Hancock County residents in need. This is the second year of funding from the foundation to support the Branch Campus food pantry.
