Help the VCCS connect veterans with jobs that pay well

Office of the Governor

Contact: Jeff Caldwell

Phone: (804) 225-4260

Email: Jeff.Caldwell@Governor.Virginia.Gov

 

Virginia Community College System

Contact: Jeffrey Kraus

Phone: (804) 592-6767

Email: jkraus@vccs.edu

 

Virginia’s Community Colleges Seek Partners to

Connect Veterans with Good-Paying, High-Demand Jobs

 

~ VCCS Offers Grants to Strategically Connect Veterans with Growing Job Sectors ~

 

RICHMOND — Marine Corp veteran Dave Graf was laid off from his job in 2009, shortly after returning from two tours of duty in Iraq as a helicopter maintainer and gunner. He then decided to use his G.I. Bill benefits and enroll in Blue Ridge Community College where he earned a total of four postsecondary credentials in aviation and automotive maintenance, including two associate’s degrees – all while maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

 

“It had been a dream of mine to have the credentials to back up the skills I knew I had as an aircraft and auto mechanic. I could do both at BRCC,” said Graf who quickly leveraged his credentials into a good-paying career. “It seemed the best way to maintain my lifestyle.”

 

Graf’s story is not unique. And it represents the goal of a new series of grants announced jointly by the Office of Governor Bob McDonnell and Virginia’s Community Colleges.

 

Up to $1.25 million in Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Rapid Response Assistance funds are available to build strategic partnerships aimed at connecting veterans who have recently separated from their military service, as well as eligible military spouses, with good-paying jobs in high-demand fields.

 

Speaking about the announcement, Governor McDonnell said, “Our returning veterans have already developed many leadership skills that employers look for. This program holds the promise to help more veterans in Virginia translate those skills to high-demand jobs. They have stood up for the Commonwealth and we must open the doors of our colleges and universities to them.”

 

Secretary of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Terrie Suit said, “As more men and women return from bravely serving in the defense of freedom, we must do all we can to support them in their transition. I look forward to the proposals submitted for these competitive grants to do just that.”

 

Individual grants proposals can apply for a maximum award of $250,000. Each proposal must include a Virginia Community College; a Local Workforce Investment Board; a local VEC Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program; and a Local Veterans’ Employment Representative. Proposals may also include education and training providers as well as faith-based and community based organizations.

 

“Community Colleges are at their best when they can connect local people and resources to address unmet community needs,” said Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges. “Community colleges have focused on serving veterans since I was a community college student. We’re proud of that legacy and eager to build on it with these innovative grants.”

 

More than 823,000 veterans live in Virginia, according to statistics released last year by the Department of Veterans Services.

 

Proposals for funding will be accepted until December 19, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. The full RFP is available on the VCCS Web site under Workforce Grants. 

 

About Virginia’s Community Colleges: Created more than 40 years ago, the VCCS is comprised of 23 community colleges located on 40 campuses across the commonwealth. Together, Virginia’s Community Colleges serve more than 400,000 students a year.  For more information please visit myfuture.vccs.edu.

 

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New Science & Engineering Building and Information Commons a hit

Left to right, VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois, GCC Student Government Association President Morgen Jones, Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Ann L. Heidig, Germanna President David A. Sam, GCC College Board Chairwoman Jill Johnson and U.S. Rep Rob Wittman help Germanna President David A. Sam cut the ribbon today at the Grand Opening of the college's Science & Engineering Building and Information Commons. A crowd of 250 looked on, then toured the high-tech green building.

Fredericksburg.com story and photos on the event.

Grit of Germanna's Fall 2011 grads called "legendary"

Germanna Student Government President Carla Marie Craft addresses crowd of 1,000 at 2011 Fall Commencement
In wake of quake, Virginia Community College Chancellor Glenn DuBois calls grit of Germanna 2011 Fall Commencement graduates "legendary"

Go to Germanna home page to register for classes for the spring.

“CHINA IS CRUNCHING US.” IF VIRGINIA IS TO COMPETE FOR GREEN JOBS, COMMUNITY COLLEGES LIKE GERMANNA MUST PREPARE STATE’S WORKFORCE

Terry McAuliffe, chairman of GreenTech Automotive, says he’s bringing 5,000 “green collar” jobs to America from China, and that he’d like for a lot of those jobs to go to Virginians. His company bought a Chinese car manufacturer and is transplanting it to the United States.

During the Greenforce Summit hosted by Germanna Community College’s Center for Workforce and Community Education last week at the Daniel Center in Culpeper, McAuliffe, said, “I’m looking for a trained workforce here in Virginia” and that community colleges must play a key role in that training or the U.S. could lose the growing competition for green jobs to emerging ecomomies such as China’s.

“Not only in Virginia, but in America, we have got to get in front of this,” he said. “China is crunching us.”

McAuliffe said he’d like to locate a lot of jobs involving construction of electric and hybrid vehicles in a part of Virginia with a high unemployment rate.

He said the site must, “have good rail access, be close to a port and have quality workforce development. It doesn’t do any good unless I can get people to work in the factory.”

Virginia Community College Chancellor Glenn DuBois said the state’s community colleges are up to the job of preparing the workforce for to fill green jobs.

“Until recently I didn’t see a huge demand for jobs, but we are now starting to see it and starting to respond,” DuBois said.
“There is much more to do,” DuBois said. “We have to teach it and prepare the workforce for it.”
He is optimistic about the VCCS’ ability to deliver in part because: “I’ve never seen a better environment for grants. And green sustainability is at the top of the list.”

Grants from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation helped fund the Germanna summits as part of the national Greenforce Initiative, organized by the National Wildlife Federation and Jobs for the Future.

“Community colleges across the country,” said Victor Branch, marketing manager for Bank of America, “are at the forefront of green growth and innovation whether it’s addressing their own sustainability, developing new curricula to cultivate the green workforce or making their campus operations a classroom by integrating sustainability into education to prepare graduates for jobs in the renewable energy and low-carbon economy.”

'Thank you for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself'

Anita Newhouse of Culpeper didn't believe she was smart enough. She was wrong ...

I came up with every excuse I could think of:

“I have a child.

“I work full time.

“I wasn’t a good student in high school.”

The truth is, my self esteem and confidence were so low that I honestly didn’t think I would be successful in college. I thank God I listened to a friend who pushed me to enroll at Germanna Community College in 2000. She suggested taking one class at a time until I was used to that, and then later taking more than one class each semester. As each semester passed, my confidence increased and I held my head a little higher.

I couldn’t believe that I was going to college and that I was working towards an associate’s degree! No one in my family had ever attended college, and now I was. It felt amazing.

One of my professors at GCC, Randy Martin, encouraged me to check with the University of Mary Washington to find out what classes that I had already taken would transfer as well as what other classes I could take at Germanna that would transfer. I humored him, still not believing it was realistic. Mr. Martin checked with me periodically to see where I was in the process. He even said that he was not going to let me stop at an associate’s degree.
One day I realized that if he believed in me and he thought I could do it, maybe I should pursue it. But I didn’t have the money to continue my education. And though my self esteem had increased during my time at Germanna, I was still not confident enough in myself to believe that I could also be successful at a university. I simply thought I was not smart enough.

I met with an advisor at UMW and was able to take a lot of classes at GCC that would transfer. Germanna provided me with educational assistance for tuition for these classes as well as for the books.

In addition to working full time and attending school, my husband and I are small business owners, and this takes a lot of my time. I was only able to take one class a semester at UMW. I didn’t really have the time or money to devote to any more than that.

In April of 2009, an email about a fellowship program was sent to all state employees. I quickly closed the email without really reading it because at the time I didn’t realize what it was. Later that day my wonderful supervisor, Sarah Somerville, came to me and asked if I had read the email. I told her I looked at it briefly but that I didn’t really know what it was or if it even pertained to me. She explained to me that it was the Chancellor’s Fellowship scholarship and she encouraged me to apply for it. If she hadn’t brought it to my attention, I would never have applied. I did, and I was awarded the scholarship which provided me the opportunity to be a full-time student for the first time ever.

Not only could I be a full-time student and not have to balance work, but I also had no worries about the cost of attending the university as my salary and tuition would be taken care of during the academic year in which I was attending school. Dr. David Sam, Germanna’s president, called to tell me that I was awarded the scholarship and when I hung up with phone with him, I cried. I cried because I was so grateful for the opportunity and I couldn’t believe that I was going to be receiving my Bachelor’s degree.

As a full-time student, I was able to network and build relationships. This was something I was never able to do before while balancing other things in my life. When I finished classes at Germanna, I would always rush home to my family. As a full-time student, I was able to stay after class to discuss my thoughts on various things and build relationships that I will continue to maintain.

On May 8, 2010, I graduated from the University of Mary Washington with my Bachelor’s degree in Leadership and Management. I am forever grateful to so many people for supporting me through this journey and providing me with this opportunity.
Thank you, Chancellor Glenn DuBois, for providing such a scholarship. Thank you Sarah Somerville, for being such a wonderful and selfless person and encouraging me to take advantage of this opportunity though it would mean I would have to leave the counseling office. Thank you Randy Martin for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Also, thank you Pam Frederick for being so supportive of me at all times.
I can’t tell you how much it means to have such wonderful supervisors who encourage growth and want the best for their employees. Joan Fischer, Kelly Wolfe, Katey Denner, and Dean Rowe, thank you all for always believing in me! Dr. Sam and Victoria Waldron, you both were willing, without hesitation, to write letters of reference for me and I am so grateful for that as your opinions and insight are extremely valued.

Thank you as well to every single employee at Germanna who has believed in me, and shared in my exciting journey.

God bless you all!

--Anita Newhouse

'We're the best deal for the American taxpayer'

In Fox Business News interview, VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois explains the importance of the $12 billion federal community college initiative in turning economy around ...

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VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois this week on Fox Business News: "Harvard has been around for 10-plus generations or more. Community Colleges have been around for less than our lifetime. And already we've enrolled half of the nation's undegraduates--here in Virginia we enroll two-thirds of undergraduates. "We've come a long way in a short period of time and I think we're prepared to help more and more Americans..."
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CHANCELLOR TO HOLD REGIONAL 'COMMUNITY DISCUSSION' ABOUT IMPROVING COMMUNITY COLLEGES FRIDAY AT NOVA-ANNANDALE CAMPUS

A group of VCCS officials, led by Chancellor Glenn DuBois, makes a stop in Northern Virginia Friday as part of a series of community discussions across Virginia to understand how the colleges can improve the service they provide to students, families and businesses...
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