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Eastern Gateway Community College seeks Valley site to call home
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Eastern Gateway Community College is looking for a Mahoning Valley home.
Earlier this month, the EGCC trustees approved the establishment of a Letter of Understanding between the college and Higher Education Partners of New Bedford, Mass.
“HEP and college officials will seek a facility in the Mahoning Valley to meet Eastern Gateway’s growing needs,” Ann Koon, EGCC spokeswoman said in an email.
The letter doesn’t specify a dollar amount or any preferred locations. More details are expected to be finalized at future board meetings. The partnership development will be done with the guidance and review of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, she said.
For fall semester, the college reported record enrollment including twice as many Mahoning Valley residents enrolled between fall 2010 and fall 2011.
Koon’s email said EGCC’s 15 percent enrollment increase is the largest increase of any state institution of higher education according to the Fall 2011 Preliminary Headcount Enrollment from the Ohio Public Colleges and Universities report from the Ohio Board of Regents.
“As part of the college’s strategic plan, we are looking for facilities to meet our growing needs to have space to offer classes and labs, and to provide student support services such as advising, library, bookstore and student activities,” EGCC President Laura Meeks said in the email. “We will continue our partnerships with the career centers, but the demand for community college classes and services is now developing at a great pace. We are pleased that Valley residents are recognizing the opportunities Eastern Gateway is bringing to their communities. We are preparing students for quicker entry into the job market and affordable opportunities to achieve credits for transfer to Youngstown, Kent State or other universities.”
An actual bricks-and-mortar facility in the Mahoning Valley is something that the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods, or ACTION, has been advocating since EGCC began offering classes here.
The group delivered petitions with 5,000 signatures advocating a Mahoning Valley EGCC location to the former Ohio chancellor and has met more recently with other state and local officials.
“It’s coming to fruition now,” said Rose Carter, ACTION’s executive director and community organizer. “They’re seeing where it is essential for a community to have a brick and mortar building. I’m really excited about.”
It’s an important aspect of the area’s economic development, she said.
“I feel we need jobs,” Carter said. “The Mahoning Valley is in dire need of economic development, and Eastern Gateway is an excellent pathway to jobs right now.”
The college operates the Valley Center at the Northside Medical Center on Gypsy Lane, but because of growing class demand, that center will be moved in January to the Choffin Career and Technical Center.
Eastern Gateway’s partnerships with the Choffin Center, Columbiana County Career and Technical Center, Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and Trumbull Career and Technical Center will remain active, EGCC said.