Center for New Directions receives grant
NIC Diesel Technology alumna Melanie Andrews poses with her children during a graduation photo shoot organized by the college’s Center for New Directions in May 2022 at Sunspot at Yap-Keehn-Um Beach near NIC’s campus in Coeur d’Alene. /Elli Oba, North Idaho College
(Photo courtesy ELLI OBA/NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE)
The Center for New Directions at North Idaho College was recently awarded a $4,700 grant from the Idaho Resilience Project, specifically to assist current and future parenting students overcome social and economic barriers and remain on the path to completing their education at NIC.
The Center for New Directions is designed to assist single parents and displaced homemakers with community resources and exploration of career and educational paths. The CND also delivers retention and completion support programs to students and future students enrolled in Career Technical Education. The Boise-based Idaho Resilience Project is focused on building regional collaboratives to help youth and families overcome trauma, economic uncertainty and systemic issues and to discover access to services.
The grant award will support a wide array of activities. Two of the most impactful projects this award will fund are the development of the Circle of Parents and Families Initiative on the NIC campus. This initiative includes weekly support groups for parenting students and monthly family gatherings, including a family photo shoot opportunity on the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Other funded projects include the purchase of freezers and family-sized frozen meals to enhance the availability of food items to parenting students experiencing food insecurity.
For more information on NIC’s Center for New Directions, visit nic.edu/cnd or contact NIC Center for New Directions Student Success Navigator Louisa Rogers at 208-769-3447 or Louisa.Rogers@nic.edu.