Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Senator Leahy Announces $375,000 to Support Higher Education in the Northeast Kingdom

  • 09/04/15

LYDONVILLE, VT – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) recently announced a $375,000 federal grant to the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Rural Students at Lyndon State College to improve access to education for Vermont students. The grant helps to leverage more than $1 million to expand AmeriCorps service and to advance educational opportunities to first-generation, low-income students across the Green Mountain State.

Leahy, the senior-most member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped to establish the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Rural Students in 2009 in an effort to improve the factors that influence the education and occupational aspirations of rural, first-generation students. Since its founding, the Leahy Center has been instrumental in supporting the educational and economic aspirations of Northeast Kingdom residents.

The grant is being awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), a federal agency supporting nonprofit organizations in communities across the country. Lyndon will use the award to implement the Lyndon Economic Opportunity Attainment Program (LEAP), a new initiative to support 38 AmeriCorps members to carry out service with organizations in the Northeast Kingdom. Members will serve at a diverse range of sites including the Cobleigh Library, University of Vermont Extension and Green Mountain Farm to School.

Flanked by AmeriCorps members, Leahy praised the Lyndon community for its efforts. “Lyndon State College has long been instrumental in expanding opportunities for Vermonters. This federal grant to the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Rural Students helps fuel that commitment to expanding education access for rural Vermonters and to promote the economic vitality of the Northeast Kingdom,” Leahy said.

Lyndon State College President Joe Bertolino says: “We are thrilled to receive this funding. This AmeriCorps program is a great opportunity for Lyndon State College and, more importantly, for the Northeast Kingdom. Each of the AmeriCorps members will be working on a project that improves educational attainment or economic opportunity in some way. As the only public four year institution in the NEK, Lyndon is pleased to play such a strong in improving educational and career opportunities for our communities.”

The $375,000 grant is part of a CNCS investment of nearly $500,000 to support 88 AmeriCorps members to expand educational attainment and economic opportunity at three Vermont institutes of higher education, including Lyndon State College, the University of Vermont Center for Disability & Inclusion and the Vermont Higher Education Consortium. In addition to the Leahy Center grant, education scholarships, local cash and in-kind matching contributions brings the total investment in higher education to over $1,000,000.

“AmeriCorps members are an indispensable resource for nonprofits, communities, and the individuals they serve,” says Corporation for National and Community Service CEO Wendy Spencer. “Through AmeriCorps, individuals come together across the nation with the common goal to make a lasting impact on the toughest challenges facing our nation. We salute these AmeriCorps members and their commitment in serving our country.”

Representatives from SerVermont, the Vermont State Colleges, Vermont Student Assistance Corp., Vermont Higher Education Consortium, University of Vermont Center for Disability and Inclusion, Northwoods Stewardship Center and Northeast Kingdom community were also present for Friday’s event.

Leahy’s prepared remarks can be found here.

Featured

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.

  • Harvard Announces Replacement Facility for Native American Program

    Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., recently announced that construction will begin this spring on a new home for its Native American Program, according to university news. The 6,500-square-foot, all-electric building will stand three stories and serve as the central hub for the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP).

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.