By Mary Downs
Executive Director, FVTC Foundation

Thank you, Community Foundation, for investing in our community!

The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region recently made a generous investment in our community’s future by granting $50,000 to the Fox Valley Technical College Promise Scholars Program.  It’s designed to remove financial barriers that prevent talented students from pursuing post-secondary technical education – and here’s why it’s so important:

• Last year more than 10,000 job openings were posted across our region by employers seeking technical college graduates.

• 65% of high school students from low-income families don’t even consider post-secondary education because they simply can’t afford it.

• Of the 4,500 high school seniors across our area, 2,000 qualify for free or reduced lunch, a direct indicator of financial need.

• The poverty rate in our community is virtually the same as it was in 2009. During the recession unemployment was a huge problem; today underemployment is the concern.

• Research indicates there is a correlation between post-secondary educational attainment and individuals being less likely to engage in crime, less likely to require community support and likely to be in better physical health.

Curt Detjen and Mary Downs

To keep our communities vibrant, we must do everything we can to close the skills gap and prepare young adults for careers that will provide family-sustaining wages. The Promise Program provides funding and other support services to ensure these students will successfully complete their education and launch their careers.

By 2023, we hope to have 3,000 Promise Scholars from low-income families complete an associate degree or technical diploma and enter our workforce with the skillsets employers so desperately need.  It’s a win for these students and their futures, a win for local employers and a win for the community.

The first Promise Scholars will start at FVTC in the fall of 2017. The application period closes today (Dec. 15) . If you’re a high school senior, do not miss this opportunity to pursue a college education at NO COST to the student. It only takes two minutes to apply at  http://www.fvtc.edu/FVTCpromise.

Thank you to the Community Foundation for this generous grant. We’re confident there will be a great return on this investment in our community!

 What’s the promise?

Under the FVTC Promise scholarship program, every eligible incoming high school student in the Fox Valley Technical College district can earn an associate degree or technical diploma at FVTC if they maintain solid grades, have good attendance, don’t repeat classes, graduate on time, meet certain income requirements, and provide service to their community.

Read our annual Report to the Community at www.cffoxvalley.org/CommunityReport.

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