Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Federal grant to boost PCC's childcare services

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College’s childcare services just got a boost in federal funding that will help student-parents in need. PCC’s Grants Office announced that the college has been awarded a four-year, $563,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) funds will support childcare services for low-income PCC students at the Sylvania Campus; expand the Rock Creek Campus childcare center to offer daytime services; and partner for a childcare center near the Cascade Campus. Advising and financial aid assistance at each campus will be provided. "This grant will allow us to assist students without asking them to wait two, three, even four terms," said Michael Morrow, childcare services and CCAMPIS project coordinator. "Additionally, it will let us fund students who are less than full time and who may not be otherwise eligible. This grant will truly let us open that often-closed portal of childcare access and bring another 40 to 50 students a year through PCC’s door." Currently, the college provides campus-based childcare for 140 children. These services, however, do not meet the high demand as 2,678 Pell Grant-eligible student-parents attend PCC and waiting lists for childcare services are more than a year long. Pell-eligible student-parents, many of whom are older, single and first-generation college students, face childcare and other challenges to earning a degree. Their first-year retention rate is 51 percent and less than 9 percent graduate within three years. Through this grant project, 70 percent of participants entering CCAMPIS each academic year will move on to a second year and at least 25 percent will graduate or transfer within three years. This project will be 100 percent federally-funded. For more information, contact Michael Morrow, CCAMPIS project coordinator, at 503-977-4366.