Grant to help align schools, employers

Published: December 20, 2013 3:00 a.m.

Grant to help align schools, employers

Journal Gazette

Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded $375,000 to the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and Community Partnership Inc. to assist with better aligning education programs at area colleges and universities with the needs of employers through the Regional Partnership’s Big Goal Collaborative.

The money will help create an employer database to track the needs of local employers, build connections between business and schools and analyze programs offered at area schools to find gaps between what is offered and what employers need.

The Big Goal Collaborative’s College to Career Action Team is comprised of representatives from Huntington University, Indiana Tech, IPFW, Ivy Tech Community College Northeast, Manchester University, the University of Saint Francis, the Graduate Retention Program of Greater Fort Wayne Inc., Northeast Indiana Works and the Questa Education Foundation.

Indiana Wesleyan University also recently received a $3 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to prepare students for the workforce.