RALEIGH, N.C. State Employees’ CU announced this afternoon its SECU Foundation will provide $435,000 in funding for continuing education scholarships to help retrain the state’s burgeoning unemployed and underemployed workforce.
The SECU Foundation, the biggest credit union endowment in the nation, will provide funding for ten $750 Continuing Education Scholarships to be awarded to students at each of the 58 North Carolina Community College campuses, for an initial one-year commitment of $435,000. The program will help provide students with short-term job training for new careers or retraining to advance current job skills through the Community College System’s Back-to-Work Program and continuing education courses.
Since 2004, SECU Foundation has provided two $5,000 scholarships to each of the 58 Community College campuses, with an annual commitment of $580,000. This additional scholarship program brings the SECU Foundation’s pledge to more than $1 million.
The SECU Foundation is the most active credit union charity in the country, providing more than $4 million a year in higher education scholarships to students within the state and millions more in grants and no-interest loans for construction of a network of critically ill hospices and other projects. The Foundation has awarded more than $50 million in funding since its 2004 inception.
The SECU Continuing Education Scholarship program will focus on assisting unemployed and underemployed adults, military veterans, and members of the National Guard with marketable job skills for future employment, with the requirement that participants must be enrolled in a program that leads to a state-regulated or industry-recognized credential. Administered locally by each Community College, implementation of the program is scheduled for July at campuses statewide. This new program complements the Foundation’s ongoing scholarship support for community colleges.
