West Kentucky Community and Technical College awards $124,000 to dozens of organizations in the region

Dozens of regional organizations have been awarded $124,000 to mark the two-year anniversary of West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s $15 million award from the MacKenzie Scott National Philanthropic Trust Grant. The money from the school will go to support organizations that help support communities where many WKCTC students call home. 

More than 200 scholarships, both new and old, are being funded by the allotment in addition to the donations to local groups, which are being made in cash.

The $15 million award from the MacKenzie Scott National Philanthropic Trust Grant was the biggest donation West Kentucky Community and Technical College has ever received, and will be used to help the school to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the college and in the region. The school has created a seven-sector approach titled the WKCTC Guarantee, which sets an outline for the college’s plans to improve educational opportunities for diverse and low-income populations and other people who face barriers to post-secondary education in the area. The WKCTC Guarantee also has set goals to work with organizations in the community that serve similarly vulnerable populations.

West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s President Anton Reece spoke with the Paducah Sun about the school’s goals in this manner, saying, “The college, for the past two years, has been real intentional on really reaching out, particularly to…our K-12 and higher ed partners and nonprofit agencies because they work on a daily basis with those who have financial barriers to access an education.” 

The recent donations are focused on three of the sectors outlined by the WKCTC Guarantee: Workforce Training and Job Readiness, which focuses on preparing underemployed and unemployed people, especially those in minority or otherwise underrepresented populations for new and better employment through business networking and workforce training; Community Connections, which supports organizations that serve people who face barriers to career development and higher education, and underrepresented populations as a whole; and Higher Education Enhancement, which works toward expanding educational affordability and access for students entering West Kentucky Community and Technical College.

Of these awards, the largest was sent to the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce, which was awarded $17,410 that will go toward 20 minority Chamber memberships and workforce training, the Chamber’s Leadership Paducah class, and for the Chamber’s annual Washington, D.C. fly-in. 

Several area high school career technical education programs were awarded funds by the college as well, the money being used to provide scholarships to students who will eventually attend West Kentucky Community and Technical College. For the next three years, 100 scholarships per year will be awarded to students attending classes at the Paducah Innovation Hub and Career Technical Education Programs in Hickman, Fulton County, Graves County, and Mayfield.

WKCTC has also provided funding to eight family resource centers in the region and Paducah Head Start, which will support area parents, as well as awarding 65 new Community Connections Scholarships for a total of $32,500.

The college also awarded over $15,000 in donations to nine local organizations including community kitchens, groups that focus on minority representation, children’s advocacy groups, and sexual assault advocacy groups. 

In addition to the aforementioned awards, WKCTC also renewed over 50 scholarships with eight local organizations that have been a part of the WKCTC Guarantee’s allotments from back in 2020. Each of these 53 organizations have awarded at least half of the money from the 2020 scholarships already.

President of the McCracken County Community Career Endowment Board of Directors, Charles Hamilton talked about the awards from WKCTC and how they allow the organization to continue providing scholarships to minority students so that they can better afford higher education. 

Reece noted that WKCTC has watched as students who are provided with more opportunities and pathways to higher education end up with better job opportunities and a more stable financial situation for themselves and their families. He also noted that having more people in job training programs and other, similar, post-high school educational opportunities is an overall benefit for the workforce of the region.

“I heard a speaker say once that education is really about economic mobility,” Reece said, “It really is the key. The best way to transform lives, as a game-changer, is to get folks educated and ready to work in high-wage, high-demand jobs.”

Reece went on to say that most of the $15 million grant has been invested for West Kentucky Community and Technical College with an eye for long term utility and impact. The most recent allotments as well as programs like the Student Success Center, which was opened in late 2022, come from the almost $2 million in grant funds that have been set aside for a more short term impact.

More information about West Kentucky Community and Technical College can be found at the school’s website.