Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC scores Dept. of Commerce grant

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Grants Office at Portland Community College announced that the college received a one-year, $106,682 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program funds, a grant program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will go toward addressing the healthcare workforce crisis facing Oregon. PCC will team with the Community College Healthcare Action Plan to steer Oregons 17 community colleges toward bridging the healthcare gap to underserved areas through distance education. Most of the community college allied healthcare programs are located in urban areas and there is a healthcare job shortage in rural areas. This effort would help bridge that gap. "PCC and other community colleges around the state have unique health education programs that could be shared through distance learning," said John Sneed, director of PCC’s Distance Education program. "This grant will allow Oregon community colleges to explore how we can serve those students and address the recognized shortage of healthcare workers." The objectives of the grant include assessment of allied health instruction and gauging the available distance learning technology in Oregon’s community colleges, high schools, universities and health industry. Then an agreement will be created to use distance learning technology to deliver allied health educational programs statewide. Other benefits include student support that uses the technology and a planning committee that address the barriers in distance learning between colleges (cost-sharing, intellectual property sharing and enrollment issues). For more information on this grant, contact John Sneed, director of Distance Education, at 503-977-4398.