When Treasure Valley Community College was awarded the competitive Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant from the Department of Education in 2005, the college knew this funding would be the catalyst for change at TVCC. One of the priority areas in the grant was creating a way to identify at-risk students and then provide services to help them be more successful at college. Early on, the Title III team developed and piloted an Early Alert/ Intervention program.
When Chancellor Helen Cox first arrived on the Kaua'i Community College (KCC) campus in August 2008, she had already made it clear that she believed that KCC had an important role to play in moving the island of Kaua'i toward sustainability. In the public forum that was part of her interview, she was told that while much of the country was slowly sliding into the abyss when it came to economics and sustainability, Kaua'i was going over a cliff. She was then asked what she would do to help.
Cerro Coso Community College, located in the upper Mojave Desert, is on the cutting edge of developing an Energy Technician program to support the renewable energy industry. In the new industrial technology certificate and degree programs, students will complete an 18-unit core set of courses to provide for a well-rounded skilled technical worker.
On October 24, 2008, volunteers gathered at Bakersfield College to test their ability to vaccinate the community in a point-of-dispensing exercise. The college entered into the partnership because if Bakersfield was ever to experience pandemic influenza or another such disaster, it might be necessary to distribute medications to many citizens quickly, and Bakersfield College would be called on to provide the service.