Nonprofits & Community Colleges

For nonprofit organizations providing services to people to help them improve their lives, the California Community College system is a valuable asset, providing educational and vocational resources at a very reasonable cost.

Consequently, this new infusion of funds, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, is very good news.

An excerpt.

“President Obama's Bay Area visit last week highlighted his support for the green-tech industry, but for out-of-work Californians, the more important initiative may be the administration's little-noticed plan to give community colleges $2 billion in retraining funds over the next four years.

"This is the largest federal investment in the community colleges since the GI Bill," said Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter, who had been chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District before being elevated to the department's No. 2 post.

“The funding plan, which became law in March, was championed by Bay Area lawmakers and local administration appointees who shared the Silicon Valley view that two-year colleges don't just assist young people in parlaying their high school diplomas into higher degrees, but also help workers make the leap from career to career in a fast-changing world.

"This is especially true in a place like Silicon Valley, where we are constantly creating new industries and obsoleting old ones, forcing people to transition every few years," said Russell Hancock, chief executive of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a business-backed public policy group that believes community colleges are essential to providing skilled technical workers.

“Money at right time

“At a time when California's budget crisis has forced an 8 percent cut in funding for the state's 112 community colleges, the Obama plan, whose backers included Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, offers a symbolic and practical boost for the vocational and technical career courses that make up about 40 percent of two-year college offerings.

"We didn't get all the money we wanted, but now it's up to us to do the best we can with federal, state and private-sector funds combined," said Terri Carbaugh, spokeswoman for the California Community College Chancellor's Office in Sacramento.”