Editor’s Note: This article, written by Tabitha Whissemore, originally appeared at Community College Daily.

The Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation has awarded $1.5 million in grants to 31 colleges in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin through its Dash Emergency Grant program. Dash grants help at-risk students by quickly providing small emergency grants to help them continue their education. Each college will provide an escalating cash match for student emergency grants, both to meet students’ immediate needs and move toward program sustainability. Upwards of 4,000 students are expected to benefit from the program.

Alabama

Calhoun Community College will expand two job-training programs after receiving Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grants totaling $200,000. The grants will help upgrade programs to train students for careers in advanced manufacturing technology and as line workers for utility companies. The college will purchase new equipment for the advanced manufacturing program to teach robotics and other skills needed by potential employers. It also plans to double the number of companies offering apprenticeships to students. Matching funds of $149,974 will supplement the grant. The line-worker training program will get updated training and safety equipment. The program also will expand to accommodate about 50 students per year, up from the current capacity of 32. Matching funds of $155,514 have been committed to the program.

Shelton State Community College also received ARC funding. The college has partnered with the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce on a $368,000 grant project focused on preparing new workers for automotive careers in Alabama.

Georgia

Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s industrial programs got a boost with a $10,000 donation from the Grainger Foundation. Fourteen industrial programs are slated for the college’s new Catoosa County Campus, including mechatronics, electronics and computer information systems.

Gwinnett Technical College received a $24,000 donation from AT&T for scholarships for students interested in studying computer information systems. The college has received substantial donations from AT&T since 1998.

Minnesota

Northland Community & Technical College’s (NCTC) construction electricity program will benefit from a $15,000 donation from the Dakotas Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association. Scholarships will be created for construction electricity students and to develop an endowment through the NCTC Foundation.

Rhode Island

The Community College of Rhode Island will establish the Multidisciplinary Clinical Simulation Center using a $324,180 grant from the Champlin Foundations. The college will buy simulation mannequins to help nursing and allied health students train for a variety of scenarios. Grant funds also will help purchase a mechanical ventilator and two noninvasive positive pressure ventilators. The center is expected to open in February.

Tennessee

Cleveland State Community College received a $1,000 donation from the River Counties Association for Realtors. The college will use the donation toward student scholarships.

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