Students to benefit from
CASE grant
plan while here a t Clackamas Community College and her future career goals.
By Joshua Dillen
News. Editor
Obama Bucks have found
their way into the coffers of
Oregon« 17 community col
leges. Clackamas Community
College gets an almost a $3
million share of a $18,7 million
grant and the job of shelling out
the rest.
These public institutions,
along with industry employ-
received federal funding throügh
President Obamas American Jobs
Act and the Trade Adjustment
Assistance Community College
and Career Training initiative.
The program will disburse $2
billion nàtionally, over a four
year period. Through the work
o f the Credential Acceleration
and Support for Employment
(CASE) Consortium, the college
intends to create new certificate
programs and help graduates
find local employment in their
new or current field.
According
to
a
US
Department o f Labor press
release, the goal of these grants is
to support partnerships between
com m unity
colleges - and
employers to develop programs
that provide pathways to good
jobs. It also states the initiative
complements Obamas broader
agenda for every American to
have at least one year o f postsec
ondary education. In the release,
Secretary of Labor Hilda L.
Solis expressed how important
the legislation is for the schools
involved.
“Making it possible for unem
ployed Americans to return to
work is a top priority of President
Obamas. This initiative- is about
providing access to training that
leads to real jobs,” stated Solis.
“These federal grants will enable
community colleges, employers
and other partners to prepare
job candidates, through innova
tive programs, for new careers
in high-wage, high-skills fields^
including advanced, manufactur
ing, transportation, health care
and STEM [science/technology,
engineering and math] occupa
tions”
David Blessing has worked
at the college for 14 years and
is currendy the project coordi
nator for customized training.
The Clackamas Print j
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
newsed@clackamas.edu
grant we will be able to hire
or pay an instructor to teach
another class to help them move
on in their career.”
Welding instructor John
Phelps explains that the career
coaches have informed th e. stu
dents in the welding program
about CASE and are gather
ing information from them to
improve and accelerate their
training and goals.
“I know mis-has focused on
immediate completion,” said
’S e f a m s w ilt aEcelefate and Phefp^^Tm sniigKFgivepeqplie
expand programs tô create more the opportunity to- ^cpjaiplete ~
opportunities for those areas that their program when it’s been
are lacking the curriculum to difficult for them.”A -
W elding student Misty
serve students.
“It’s, a very substantial grant Whitmore has learned from and
involving systemic changes to appreciates the help the career
accelerate, credentialing and coaches have given to her and
support for employment,” said fellow students at the training
Blessing. “That money goes to center on campus.
“They helped me apply for
develop new programs and to
provide classes fox [students] to my petition to graduate,” said
Whitmore. “They helped me
enroll in.”
Blessing also explained that find jobs and to better my resu
the US- Department of Labor me. I think its awesome.”
Kara Leonard is one of the
provides the guidelines that
determine' who the targeted career coaches employed by the
student is. This grant is aimed college through the CASE grant.
at the unemployed who have She sums up the benefits the
been displaced by foreign com funds will bring to the college
petition, those changing their and its students by explaining
career or those who have been her role as a counselor and her
laid off their job. The monies work with the various career,
will improve programs including technical programs.
“I help students along their
but not limited to horticulture,
welding, automotive and health career path by providing one-on-
occupations. The funding will one assistance to help them get,
support training in all career a certificate or degree,” Leonard
technical fields that show a - said. “I work with h e m to make
sure h e y get a job within h e
demand from the labor market.
John Kyllo is one of the career industry h e y have been trained
coaches at the college who works in.” -P
Leonard’s describes h a t her
closely with students to guide
them in their retraining and pur role as a career coach helps stu
suit of a new career. He sees dents w ih standard advising
accessibility as one of the barriers as well as helping h e college
to students who have had a hard to evaluate and improve career
time completing a degree or cer technical curriculum and what is
tification because they can’t get offered. Part of her job is work
into a class that is offered rare ing w ih students for input and
ly. W ith many technical fields various departments to develop
that may require one class in h e programs on campus h a t
common that is not offered fre focus on career development for
quently, CASE funding’s goal is students here.
In this stagnant economy,
' to create the needed curriculum
to satisfy and expedite a student’s students will benefit horn h e
improvements the CASE grant
graduation or certification.
“The classes that are bottling will bring to h e college. Career
up students and only offered coaches and h e creation of new
once per term are creating wait career technical classes and pro
ing lists that keep students from grams are just some of h e goals
finishing in a timely manner, being realized here through the
“said Kyllo. “W ith the CASE efforts of h e CASE consortium.
The Clackamas Print
wins 18 awards
Every year in May The
C lackam as P r in t heads to the
Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association Collegiate Day,
where we learn which awards
we’ve won in a competition
w ith other newspapers from
colleges around the state.
After three years writing for
TAe P rin t, I am extremely
happy to say that we brought
18 awards back to Clackamas.
T he staff that I have worked
with this year worked hard
on their stories, and they all
are appreciated for their hard
work, including photo editor
Brad Heineke who won four
awards for his photography.
Ten o f those 18 awards
were first place awards and
include: Best Photography,
Best News Story, Best House
Ad and Best Sports Story.
His current project is the CASE
grant and he is the interim direc
tor. The monies are intended,
to serve 624 individuals by
September 2014 and provide
funding to implement changes
to improve these students’ expe-,
riençes, and as always, improve
and help them find a job. He
also explained the money is
not used to financially support
students, but used to pay for
improvements to programs and
hire career, coaches. He also said
We also swept Best Headline
W riting for the second year
in a row with first and second
place.
For a full list o f the awards
and w hat we w on visit
h ttp://w w w .orenew s.com Z
Contests/2012/cncZ. You may
find The C lackam as P r in t in
circulation group three.
Needless to say, we would
all like to give a big thanks
to you, our readers. W ithout
you there would be no
C lackam as P rin t. W hether
or hot you agree or disagree
with how or what we report,
you give us the encourage
m ent to keep writing.
-Brian Baldwin
s t a f f ¿ h o w s ' o ^ t h e f f h ^ a w à r d s f ih ò n ^ a t
the Oregon Newspapers Publishers Association Collegiate Day
on Friday, M ay 11.
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