Plus 50 Completion Strategy Grants

Posted by on January 23, 2011

American Association of Community Colleges Requests Proposals for Plus 50 Completion Strategy Grants
Deadline: March 4, 2011

With support from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the American Association of Community Colleges will award AACC Plus 50 Completion Strategy Grants to community colleges committed to enhancing or expanding their existing degree, certificate, and not-for-credit programs for students 50 years of age and older. The foundation is especially interested in supporting programs that help those who have earned prior college credits obtain the credentials sought by employers in high-demand, high-growth fields.

Enhancement or expansion may be defined as offering career development and other support services that foster completion such as financial aid assistance, computer technology skill-building, math and English refresher courses, flexible scheduling options, tailored career advising, completion coaches or advisors; redesigning programs to meet specific needs such as offering noncredit and credit, compressed, fast-tracked, or accelerated courses; recruiting and reaching out to the plus-50 population; offering professional development to faculty to enhance their effectiveness in working with plus-50 students; assessing prior learning and capturing previously earned credits; establishing or enhancing collaboration and partnerships with local employers; and increasing access to college for plus-50 students (e.g., making accommodations for job or transportation challenges to class attendance).

The program will award eleven grantsof $12,000 over three years. Awards are contingent upon evidence of adequate yearly progress. In addition, a travel allowance of $1,200 will be provided for the Plus 50 Completion Strategy Coordinator to attend a Plus 50 conference in summer 2011.

Grants may support activitiessuch as training and retraining, career development, and support activities that enhance successful workforce training and retraining credential completion for adults over the age of 50. Political or religious programming is not supported by this grant.

The complete Request for Proposals and an FAQ are available at the AACC Web site.

http://www.aacc.nche.edu/newsevents/News/articles/Pages/010420111.aspx