Despite state cuts, Eastern Gateway finds other means

YOUNGSTOWN — The state may not have any money in its biennial budget plan to launch Eastern Gateway Community College this fall, but that hasn’t stopped the school’s organizers from finding other revenue sources.

Laura Meeks, president of Jefferson Community College and volunteer assistant to Ohio’s chancellor of higher education on the community college project, said more than $2.5 million in grant funds has been secured.

That includes a $1.9 million federal Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training Grant announced in March and a $750,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Meeks said.

The federal money is designed to improve the ability of community colleges to provide their regions’ workers with skills needed to enter growing industries.

Read the full story in Monday’s Vindicator and on vindy.com