ERIC Number: EJ1124364
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1067-1803
EISSN: N/A
Not Fade Away: Sustaining Programs When Grant Funding Ends
Boerner, Heather
Community College Journal, v87 n3 p14-18 Dec 2016-Jan 2017
The Arizona Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AzAMI) is still a year away from the end of the U.S. Department of Labor grant that expanded the program, but already, AzAMI Executive Director Leah Palmer at Mesa Community College (MCC) in Mesa, Arizona, is fielding calls from companies that have hired her students through the institute. As state funding dwindles and colleges strive to advance their student success and completion agendas, grants have become a primary way to institute new, innovative programs. Those time-limited grants require college leaders to walk a fine line between the lure of grant funding and the challenge of maintaining those programs after grants expire. Some colleges are finding ways to sustain programs past the sunset of their grants. MCC, for instance, has approved a sustainability plan for AzAMI and submitted it to leaders at Maricopa Community Colleges. The question is how much of AzAMI's proposed $300,000-per-year operating budget will come from the college and how much will come from the district. For AzAMI and all the other grant-funded programs at community colleges, stakes are high. AzAMI could be just about any large, grant-funded initiative, but it is also a good example of how to build a grant-funded program into a college and move the college, the community, and the industry forward. This article discusses a three-fold strategy for program sustainability: (1) build off your strengths; (2) get active buy-in from college leadership; and (3) integrate yourself into the institution.
Descriptors: Grants, Educational Finance, Community Colleges, Sustainability, Program Termination, College Programs, Program Administration, College Administration, Educational Innovation
American Association of Community Colleges. One Dupont Circle NW Suite 410, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-728-0200; Fax: 202-833-2467; Web site: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Publications/CCJ/Pages/default.aspx
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Two Year Colleges; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Arizona (Mesa); West Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A