ECC grant to help transition GED and ESL students to jobs

A $20,000 grant from the Illinois Community College Board will allow Elgin Community College to develop programs to quickly transition GED and English as a Second Language students into the workforce. ECC is one of eight Illinois community colleges to receive the ICCB grant.

The grant is part of Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative and involves ECC and community colleges from 11 states. ECC and others will use the funds to integrate occupational training into their adult education programs. After the design stage, each state will be eligible to compete for implementation grants, of which five states will receive $1.6 million each over three years to implement their plans.

More than 1.8 million Illinois adults lack skills beyond a high school diploma. According to the grantors, by 2018, about 70 percent of all jobs will require workers with some form of postsecondary credentials, exacerbating the current difficulty employers across the state report in finding qualified workers who can fill skilled positions.

“At ECC we have the opportunity to help our adult basic education students fulfill their potential,” says Peggy Heinrich, ECC dean of adult education. “This initiative will increase students’ chances of finding better jobs that pay a living wage.”

Funding the initiative are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations.