Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon presented BCSC with a $1 million ‘cheque’ that will fund three of the corporation’s workforce development initiatives this school year.

While it probably isn’t a good idea to try to bring it into a bank to try to deposit, the mayor said, she wanted to bring it to Monday’s school board meeting to emphasize the importance of the partnership in developing the community’s workers of the future.

“I know some years we do the big cheque and some years we don’t— so here it is,” Ferdon said. “The reason I brought it is because I think it’s really symbolic of how important the relationship is between the City of Columbus and (BCSC).”

The funding comes from the Columbus Redevelopment Commission and is the ninth-such annual contribution invested into BCSC. The partnership has impacted 13,500 students over that time period, according to BCSC.

The commission unanimously approved the funding during a meeting on Sept. 16 and it was given a sign-off by Columbus City Council members on Nov. 6.

The grant includes $330,500 for iGrad, $267,397 for transitional programs for students with disabilities and $402,103 for STEM initiatives. The amounts have remained the same since 2022.

“So many people when they think about the redevelopment commission think about the infrastructure projects that we build, the streets, the utilities, the money that we give to companies so that they can start here,” Ferdon said. “And that’s a really important part of what they do. But their mission is economic development, and developing our workforce is just as important.”

iGrad, which is a partnership with Ivy Tech Community College – Columbus, provides students in grades 8-12 who are identified as at-risk with academic support and mentoring. The $330,500 will primarily go towards paying iGrad coaches.

For the first time ever last year, 100% of students who started 12th grade in iGrad graduated from high school in May, BCSC Superintendent Chad Phillips said earlier.

BCSC’s transition programs have the goal of helping students with disabilities transition into either the workforce or post-secondary opportunities.

The transition planning money will in part go towards the Empower Program, a collaboration between BCSC, Ivy Tech and IU Columbus to provide students aged 18-22 working on a certificate of achievement the ability to take part in the one to two year transition program on the Air Park campus.

According to BCSC, 10,250 BCSC students have engaged in STEM activities since the redevelopment commission provided its first workforce grant. The funds pay about 50% of the salaries for BCSC’s 10 elementary STEM teachers.

The STEM money enables BCSC students in grade K-6 to take part in a hands-on STEM lab taught by a certified teacher one day per week, just as they would do for art, music or PE.

The funding also supports another Ivy Tech partnership for CSA New Tech students, who can choose an information technology pathway that could allow them to leave the school already equipped with more than 30 college credits.

One of the other areas where the funding has paid dividends is through BCSC’s fast-growing robotics programs, which has grown to 29 teams.
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