November 18, 2008

New Grants Benefit Military Vets, Middle & High School Students, Construction Industry

Two timely grants totaling nearly $600,000 have been awarded to the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), officials announced today. This includes:

• A $499,605 state grant to improve and expand career technical education learning pathways from area middle and high schools to the community colleges within the SDCCD and provide workforce development strategies to enhance and sustain growth within the local construction industry. The grant was awarded by the Governor’s Career Technical Education Initiative.
• A $100,000 Wal-Mart Foundation grant to provide educational assistance to military veterans. The SDCCD was one of only 10 higher education institutions nationwide to receive this grant. Wal-Mart awarded $100,000 each to institutions that currently have successful veteran educational assistance programs. The grants will support the development of new and existing programs and provide resources to assist veterans with access to education, adjustment to civilian life and success in completing their degrees.

The Governor’s Career Technical Education Initiative grant monies are designated specifically for instructional programs designed to provide the region’s construction industry with a well trained, highly skilled workforce.

The community college district’s project will be led by one of its three colleges, San Diego City College, in collaboration with its Career Technical Education partners: the San Diego Unified School District, the San Diego County Office of Education, the San Diego Workforce Partnership and industry-specific partners.

Career Technical Education is an innovative path for students to follow -- starting in seventh grade and continuing through the freshman and sophomore years at City, Mesa and Miramar colleges. The collaboration combines rigorous core academics with relevant career technical and professional occupational courses as well as work-based learning.


SDCCD’s long-running and well established military education program currently provides instruction to more than 50,000 at 30 military installations throughout the United States. Directed by Lisa Curtin….

Lisa Curtin, SDCCD executive director of military and government education and training, said, "Serving veterans and their families is one of the most important things that the SDCCD can do for our community."

"By awarding us this grant, Wal-Mart has recognized the SDCCD as one of the largest providers of successful educational assistance programs to the armed forces."