November 27, 1997 | Read Time: 1 minute
Microsoft Corporation is donating $7-million to community colleges over the next five years to train students to become computer professionals.
The gift is designed to help employers deal with shortages of high-technology workers.
The American Association of Community Colleges, which represents 1,100 two-year colleges, is helping Microsoft select recipients of the money provided through the “Working Connections” program.
About 25 colleges will receive grants of $200,000 to $300,000 each. The colleges will also receive software and technical assistance from Microsoft.
In addition to those grant recipients, the association will choose five colleges that are already running successful computer-training programs and provide them with $100,000 each to help the 25 colleges that receive the larger awards.
The deadline for submitting applications for the money is January 8.
To make sure the grants were not seen as an effort by Microsoft to push its own software, officials at both the company and the community-college association stressed that the grant recipients would not have to train students to use Microsoft software.
For more information: Contact Kristin Becker at the American Association of Community Colleges, 1 Dupont Circle, N.W., Washington 20036; (202) 728-0200, ext. 260. Information is also available on the association’s World-Wide Web site: http://www.aacc.nche.edu.
