A regional educational consortium that includes Modesto Junior College, San Joaquin Delta College, the Stanislaus County Office of Education and some county school districts was among the first in California to receive a state grant for nearly $5 million to keep children in school and work toward college or career training.
The California Career Pathways Trust is distributing $250 million in grants statewide. The Central Valley consortium consisting of Modesto Junior College (MJC), San Joaquin Delta College, Stanislaus County Office of Education, Newman-Crows Landing School District, Modesto City Schools and the Patterson Unified School District, was notified at the end of June it had received the grant. The consortium also includes Columbia College, Merced College and Merced County Office of Education.
The grant will be coordinated by MJC, with Yosemite Community College District serving at the fiscal agent.
Ceres Unified School District has also received an additional Career Pathways grant of $600,000 for manufacturing career training.
The community colleges will partner with Ceres High School, Patterson High School, Merced and Stanislaus County Offices of Education and local logistics industry to develop and implement high school courses, career technical education (CTE) pathway programs, community college certificates and degrees and industry-based certifications that support careers in material handling, business logistics as well as maintenance and repair.
“The overall goal will be to develop the infrastructure and alignment among schools to support the growing needs of distribution centers and warehousing operations in the region,” said, MJC Dean of Public Safety, Technical Education, Workforce Development and Community Education Pedro Mendez.
The California Career Pathways Trust award will also allow Modesto Junior College’s veterinary technician program to further develop to include large animal veterinary technician training, a veterinary technician Associate of Science degree, pre-veterinary medicine preparation for transfer, and veterinary career pathway development with MJC’s partnering high schools and universities.
“The Agriculture & Environmental Sciences Division is excited about the prospect of expanding our already successful veterinary technician program,” said Mark Anglin, Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science at MJC. “The overall goal of this program is to prepare individuals to enter the ever expanding field of veterinary medicine.”
The California Career Pathways Trust was spearheaded last year by Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, and established a one-time $250 million competitive grant program in the state’s 2013-14 budget. Grant recipients this year include 12 consortia receiving up to $15 million each, 16 receiving up to $6 million each, and 11 receiving awards of up to $600,000 each.
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