COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Partially modeled after the highly successful Kalamazoo Promise education funding program, the Coldwater Township Sunrise Rotary Club and their Rotary Foundation has decided to establish and fund a similar program locally.
The Promise Program for Branch County is designed to provide financial assistance to Branch County residents wishing to attend local community colleges, and to partner with local institutions to assist in the development and enhancement of regional trade and medical skills training.
The objective of the program will be to support students in the health care fields, including certificate programs, associates degrees and RN degrees, as well as skilled trades training.
Initial funding for the program will be $20,000 per year for the first three years. The Promise Program team, working with local community colleges, expects to start funding students in the fall of 2019.
According to the Sunrise Rotary, Branch County is designated as an underserved county for healthcare professionals, and there is a severe shortage of qualified job candidates in the skilled trade disciplines. The overall goals of this project are to attract more students into the community college programs, to work with local community colleges to potentially expand regional program offerings, to improve the successful completion rate for these programs, to reduce local student debt, and hopefully to retain critical talent in the county.
Organizers of the Promise Project team say they will be reaching out to other community organizations and leaders for support. The long term goal of the team is development of a county wide coalition and establishment of a sustainable county program comparable to other successful state and national programs.
Anyone wanting to learn more or get involved in the process should contact Jon Harpst at king8924@aol.com.
