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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


In his All College Days address, American Association of Community Colleges CEO Dr. Walter Bumphus spoke about the AACC report "Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation's Future."  In many ways, MCC is meeting and exceeding the recommendations in the report.  Through October 15, members of the President's Cabinet are using the Wednesday Message to highlight and celebrate those MCC initiatives that align with the report's seven recommendations. This week's message comes from Todd Oldham, Vice President, Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services, and Diane Shoger, Executive Director, MCC Foundation.

Recommendation 5: Invest in Collaborative Support Structures

The MCC Foundation was established in 1983 and provides a means for donors, friends and volunteers to support the mission of the college and the success of its students. The funding of MCC student scholarships is currently the primary focus of the MCC Foundation. Through its Every Bright Future Needs a Strong Foundation initiative, the Foundation raises funds so that every deserving student will receive the scholarship support they need to complete their educational goals at MCC. During the 2013-14 academic year, more than $1 million was awarded in scholarships to MCC students. That represents an increase of 32 percent over the previous year.

The MCC Foundation also solicits and accepts gifts for specific projects in support of MCC students and it is these special initiatives that offer the greatest opportunity for building alliances with community-based organizations, businesses and national nonprofit organizations. These partnerships amplify the results which can be achieved on behalf of our students, the high quality programs we offer, and the economic impact we have in the community. 

For example, this year, in partnership with ESL Federal Credit Union and PathStone Corporation, MCC launched Save for Success (
www.saveforsuccess.org), a program to make higher education more affordable for low-income and disadvantaged youth.  This program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and private funders. 

Also this year, MCC launched the Be A Healthy Hero Summer Camp for 349 Rochester city students (ages 6-13) thanks to the Greater Rochester Health Foundation and Glover-Crask Charitable Trust.

The MCC Foundation is also proud to support ROC the Future—a collaboration of more than 100 community organizations—that addresses the need for improved student outcomes that lead to college and career readiness. The program is funded by a number of leading community organizations, including JPMorgan Chase.

The MCC Foundation regularly collaborates with Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services (EDIWS) in building and delivering program models, which blend partners in philanthropy, government, and the private sector to increase institutional efficiency and strengthen service to students. Shared resources, analytics and goals support operational efficiencies and outcomes.

Another example of a shared collaborative support structure is the EDIWS business and industry communication project. This project began three years ago with the creation of a robust opt-in database which now consists of over 4,000 local businesses and organizations throughout Monroe County that have chosen to receive regular communications about MCC’s workforce and economic development services and programs.  Most recently, this database was used to recruit mentors from businesses for the students of Rochester P-Tech Early College High School. As an important part of MCC’s economic development initiatives, EDIWS continues to use this project to expand and support the building of relationships with training clients that are also becoming supporters of MCC through targeted philanthropic interests facilitated through the MCC Foundation. It is through collaborative support structures like these that EDIWS and the MCC Foundation help the College fulfill its mission of Inspiring every day.

We invite you to share your thoughts via the President’s Wednesday Message blog.

Diane Shoger/Todd Oldham
MCC Foundation/EDIWS
10/02/2014