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Area Foundations Support NICC Students

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Community and corporate foundations are providing increased financial support to the college's Foundation.

NICC DISTRICT-Over the past year, the Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Foundation has solicited increased grant funding from area foundations that supports a variety of college infrastructure projects, instructional equipment purchases and scholarships for students. Six charitable foundations in northeast Iowa awarded grants or donated instructional tools to the NICC Foundation in the past few months, and the IBM Foundation donated equipment last fall.

The American Legion awarded the NICC Foundation with $2000 to support scholarships for veterans. The funding will help pay educational expenses for four veterans, two at each of the college's campuses in Calmar and Peosta. NICC received the assistance to help veterans' whose Veterans Administration educational benefits do not cover the full expense to attend NICC. The college serves approximately 125 veteran students, spouses and dependent children each year at both campuses and at six other centers throughout the district. The number of veterans choosing to attend college is increasing dramatically, college officials report. The American Legion scholarship funds will offset some of the financial burdens for this rising segment of the student population.

Another scholarship provided by the Bank of the West Foundation focuses on Adult Literacy students in Howard County. The Bank of the West Foundation contributed $2000 for Howard County residents who are seeking to earn their General Educational Development (GED) degree. More than half of the funding will be available for students who demonstrate financial need, and the scholarships will provide waivers for testing fees, books, supplies and other additional support as best serves their educational needs and goals. Each year, hundreds of students throughout northeast Iowa enroll in the GED program at NICC to advance their education, improve their employment prospects and for personal development.

Several other area community foundations are providing financial support to the NICC Foundation for beautification projects, computer software and summer programs for area children. A grant made possible through the Fayette County Community Foundation will help to construct an outdoor learning center at the NICC Regional Academy for Math and Science (RAMS) and Oelwein Center. The $1519 grant will provide two picnic tables made from recycled plastic, a bench and a concrete pad for the outdoor area. NICC partnered with Oelwein High School in the grant request. Oelwein High School provided most of the labor for the concrete work and donated a gazebo. The Oelwein School District covered the landscaping and planting costs for the outdoor area, and the high school's agriculture students created garden areas for planting to beautify the site.

The RAMS Center received an additional boost from the Northeast Iowa Charitable Foundation with a $5,000 grant to fund the center's popular summer camps for area middle school students. This year's three camps include Ride the Waves, Ride the Wind and Gateway Academy, and provide fun, hands-on learning environments to teach science, technology, engineering and math. The RAMS Center seeks to increase knowledge in these four academic areas among young students. In 2008, NICC and Oelwein school, business and community officials collaborated to build the center to achieve these educational goals and address workforce needs.
 
The Howard County Community Foundation contributed $1000 for assistive technology to help improve the reading skills of students attending the NICC Cresco Center. This funding will be used to purchase a scanner to utilize Kurzweil 3000 assistive reading software for instructors and learners at the center. Through the grant funding, several NICC instructors will receive training in the software program's features and learn how to integrate the software into their teaching.

A similar literacy program in Dubuque also received generous in-kind donations from the IBM Foundation. Through this grants program, Dubuque's new Multicultural Family Center (MFC) and NICC received hardware and software to assist in their efforts to improve English literacy skills for adults and their families in the city. Through NICC and MFC, students have access to 12 desktop computers and 15 laptop computers, including 10 recently contributed laptops from IBM.  Additionally, students will be able to access IBM's web-based "Reading Companion" independently to practice their learning in a new computerized English Language Lab at MFC. In future phases, the college's Adult Literacy Program anticipates implementing IBM's Reading Companion in more English Language classes in Dubuque and throughout the broader eight-county region, which served more than 200 English Language students in 2009.

Another grant from The Dubuque Racing Association (DRA) and Mystique Casino will purchase Financial Literacy 101 software for NICC students at the Peosta campus. The software program will educate students on financial planning and budgeting strategies. The DRA awarded the NICC Foundation $4500 to purchase the software subscription. Financial Literacy 101 is an online course that NICC will incorporate into the financial aid process for all students who apply for loans to cover their educational program's tuition, fees, books and materials costs. Research indicates that Iowa has the highest student-debt ratio of any state in the country.  At NICC, students borrow an average of $12,000 prior to their graduation. 

"By leveraging community resources and partnering with other organizations, the college can have a larger impact in our region," commented NICC President Penny Wills. "The NICC Foundation is a great partner in those endeavors."

The NICC Foundation is comprised of area business and community leaders who are committed to providing quality education and enhancing access to education to members of the community. Foundation members are actively engaged in promoting the Foundation and the college within their organizations and communities. Whether it be funding for programs, infrastructure, technology or student scholarships, the NICC Foundation is committed to finding resources for college projects in which other sources of funding are unavailable.

For information on the NICC Foundation or to learn more about ways to give to NICC students, contact Barb O'Hea, NICC associate director for the Foundation, at (800) 728-7367, ext. 284, or visit www.nicc.edu/foundation.

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