GILROY
– Another $600,000, to be delivered over the next three years,
got injected into the local adult education economy this week by
the federal government.
GILROY – Another $600,000, to be delivered over the next three years, got injected into the local adult education economy this week by the federal government.
Gavilan College announced Thursday that it received a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to create a neighborhood education and technology center for adults.
The resulting programs will expand adult literacy and adult computer literacy services already delivered by the community college at Old City Hall.
The HUD funding comes on the heels of a $2 million grant won by the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) of Gilroy. MACSA’s grant will be used to construct a 25,000 square-foot youth center complete with a gymnasium, classrooms, a child development center, a library and a computer lab, among other things.
The new funding will be used to lease space adjacent to South Valley Junior High School so the services provided to the adults can more easily piggyback with children’s programs available at the middle school campus.
“That’s the real beauty. We had a need. We talked. We collaborated. This is where we’re pooling all our resources together,” said Rachel Perez, Gavilan’s associate dean of community education. “Sometimes communities offer disjointed resources, but we’re creating an interesting opportunity here.”
Gavilan College is working with the Gilroy Unified School District, the City of Gilroy’s welfare-to-work program and the Regional Occupational Program to deliver the various services. Services include adult literacy and advanced English as a Second Language classes, job readiness and technology training.
The grant is part of more than $.5 million in grants to help Hispanic-serving colleges and universities nationwide. Grant applicants must be accredited, nonprofit two- and four-year institutions of higher learning that have at least 25 percent Hispanic full-time undergraduate enrollment. At least 50 percent of the Hispanic students must be low-income individuals.
