NRCC History Book

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Available from 2011 to 2014, the HITE grant provided $4.7 million to train health care workers in the conversion of paper medical records to electronic records to meet the 2014 federal electronic health records (EHR) mandate. In addition to NRCC, Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC), VWCC, Southwest Virginia Community College (SWVCC), Mountain Empire Community College (MECC), Southwestern Virginia Workforce Investment Board (WIB), New River/Mount Rogers WIB, Western Virginia WIB, VT, University of Virginia at Wise, and local industries received grant funding. NRCC received $1.1 million and trained students to work as medical administrative support specialists, medical office assistants, and pharmacy technicians using the new EHR technology. The college also provided EHR training to individuals currently working in the medical field. NRCC served so many students that additional money was awarded to the college before the grant period ended. Peter Anderson was the grant administrator; and Becky Ridpath, associate professor of administrative support technology (AST), and Debbie Bond, professor of AST, along with more than 10 adjunct faculty per semester, taught and advised the substantial number of students who received training during this three-year period. Also in 2011, the VCCS received a $24 million grant from the Department of Labor under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Program. NRCC’s portion of this grant was $1 million over a three-year period. Grant activities began in 2012 with the hiring of three career advisors and three job placement coordinators. These individuals provided student services, including academic

and career counseling and job placement assistance, to adult students from the NRV. In 2013, the Post-9/11 GI Bill offered many benefits to those returning from active duty. NRCC received a grant of $15,000 to market and attract eligible students. A support team for veterans and an advisory council were formed. In addition, a veter ans services office, located in Godbey Hall, was staffed daily to serve veterans and their families. Two grants in 2014 included $5,000 from the NRV Health Foundation for blood pressure monitoring equipment for the nursing program and $2,500 from the Richardson Foundation for 40 computer hard drives. Members of NRCC’s Computer Club installed the hard drives in donated computers, which were then given to students who needed a computer. In 2015 the VFCCE received a $500,000 grant from the Dominion Foundation to ben efit the Rural Virginia Horseshoe Initiative. The two goals of this initiative were (1) to cut in half the number of residents living in a horseshoe-shaped rural region of Virginia who lack a high school diploma or GED and (2) to double the percentage of those in rural areas who hold a post-secondary credential. The region reaches from Virginia’s Eastern Shore westward across Southside to South west Virginia and up through the Shenandoah Valley and includes NRCC and seven other community colleges. In 2017 the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $6 million “Pathways to the American Dream” grant to the New River/ Mount Rogers Workforce Development Consortium Board in collaboration with the Southwest Virginia, Western Virginia, and West Piedmont workforce development boards. NRCC students in manufacturing,

Chapter 2