Hazard Community and Technical College was recently awarded over $1 million in grant money from the Kentucky Department of Labor to help fund the school’s HCTC Works! Program.
The Kentucky Department of Labor has recently granted Hazard Community and Technical College $1,441,292 for its HCTC Works! Program.
President and CEO of Hazard Community and Technical College Dr.Jennifer Lindon was quoted by WYMT on the grant, saying, “This grant is called the WORC grant, and that’s ‘Workforce Opportunities for Rural Communities. It will allow us to work with both adults and youth in work and learn opportunities so that we can get them out into the workforce more quickly.”
The grant money will be used to help fund Hazard Community and Technical College’s K-TECH program which is an initiative that provides apprenticeship and dual credit opportunities to high school students.
Keila Miller, Dean of Community, Workforce and Economic Development at Hazard Community and Technical College was also quoted by WYMT on the benefits of the K-TECH program for students, saying, “Instead of investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in being a pharmacist, maybe that’s not what they need to do. Maybe they really need to go into nursing, and so this kind of helps guide them through the four years of high school into the career path they’re supposed to go into.”
The school will also use some of the grant money to allow non-traditional students to reap some of the same benefits offered to those in the K-TECH program.
Miller also noted that “being able to take those two components and pull them together and imbed one with the other just opens the door for more opportunities.”
Another portion of the funds will also go to help Hazard Community and Technical College connect with and recruit both youth and adult students with employers through the school’s new Handshake program.
Miller explained the program like this: “We want to be the match.com for local employers to our college students, but that also gives us the opportunity to match employers to these high school students, so that our employers can be mentors.”
This three-year grant should benefit up to 450 people, according to the school.
The apprenticeships that will be supported by the funds will be in Allied Health, CDL, Utility Lineman, and Computer Information Technology.
More information about Hazard Community and Technical College can be found at the school’s website.