Governor Visits College

POPLAR BLUFF - Gov. Jay Nixon visited Three Rivers College on Sept. 30, congratulating the institution’s recent grant awards.

“Colleges like these are special places,” said Nixon.  “Staff and supporters at these institutions believe they are the best because they are the best for their communities.  There is no place where the connection between the classroom and the workforce is more direct than at Missouri’s outstanding community colleges. I applaud the team at Three Rivers for their work in this effort to help get people back to work and grow the Missouri economy.”

At the Sept. 21 meeting of the college’s board of trustees, president Devin Stephenson announced that Three Rivers had been selected to receive almost $2 million in federal grant money from the Department of Education, as part of the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP).  The grant allots about $1.4 million to pay for six personnel positions, $90,000 for equipment, $400,000 for software and supplies, and $100,000 for training.

“Get ready for a transformation,” said Stephenson.  “This type of grant is the largest that the Department of Education awards.  Only 33 other institutions in the entire nation will receive this award this year.  We will use these funds to develop innovative curriculum and enhance support services for students.  This will help us complete our Academic Resources Commons, which will include all learning labs, tutoring programs, learning resources, and the Student Support Services program, in addition to the Rutland Library and the Public Computing Center.”

The college received word on Monday that the institution would also receive $1.1 million in funds from the Department of Labor under the MOHealthWINs proposal, which refers to Workforce Innovation Networks and a statewide plan among community colleges to  retrain unemployed workers to enter or re-enter the healthcare field.

“To keep up with the ever-increasing demand, Missouri needs more healthcare workers, plain and simple,” said Nixon, during his visit to the Three Rivers’ Nursing and Allied Health Center. Nixon viewed the state-of-the-art simulation mannequin lab funded by a previous Training for Tomorrow grant.

“The MoHealthWINs program will invest $20 million dollars of competitive federal grant money into a statewide effort to train 4,600 Missourians for healthcare jobs and careers.  We competed against all the other states for this money, and because of the hard work of our community colleges and local officials, we were able to perform at a very high level.  Many states got nothing.  Missouri put forward a strong application and we won,"Nixon said.

With the funds from MoHealthWINs, Three Rivers will invest over $1 million in training programs in Southeast Missouri to help an estimated 200 to 400 people earn healthcare-related certifications, which could eventually lead to nursing degrees. Examples of such certifications would be insulin administration, certified nurses’ assistant, and certified medical technician.