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Search begins for permanent location for Valley Center
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Meeks
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Eastern Gateway Community College is one step closer to a permanent location in the Mahoning Valley.
The college’s trustees voted Tuesday to authorize President Laura Meeks to execute an agreement with Higher Education Partners-Ohio to secure a location for the Valley Center to open this fall.
A site hasn’t been finalized although an announcement is expected within a few weeks.
The Valley Center first opened in 2009 at the former Forum Health Northside Medical Center on Gypsy Lane. Earlier this year, the facility moved to the fourth floor of Choffin Career and Technical Center on Wood Street.
The college’s enrollment of Valley residents has been on the rise.
Student enrollment from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties has increased from 174 in fall 2009 to 813 this semester.
HEP-Ohio is a limited- liability company that’s affiliated with Higher Education Partners, based in New Bedford, Mass. HEP is involved in similar projects, including a recent contract with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. That college will offer classes in downtown Middletown in southwest Ohio.
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 are expected to remain active.
Trustees also approved a one-year contract for Meeks, running from July 1 to June 30, 2013. She will earn $136,238 that year.
The panel also approved a Gateway Grant aimed at helping more people go to college. The grant could save a student up to $3,150 annually.
“We are thrilled to offer our new Gateway Grant to qualified area residents,” Meeks said in a news release. “Our student body is diverse from the recent high school graduate to the displaced worker, from a young adult returning to school to a current worker seeking skill advancement. This is what is great about a community college that everyone is welcome, and they realize quickly how they fit in.”