GENE, Ore. — Lane Community College is among 15 colleges and universities to receive a portion of $600,000 in grant funding from the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs (ODVA). ODVA awarded the grants to expand Campus Veteran Resource Centers, as well as bolster other services aimed at helping Oregon student veterans. Lane Community College’s portion of the grant money is $58,500.
LCC Maxwell Student Veterans Center Coordinator (MSVC) Alan Ezelle said “This grant will allow for continued operation of the MSVC. The center offers a gathering place, as well as transition resources and services for student veterans and military affiliated personnel.”
Among the services offered currently, student veterans can find computer stations, wifi, networked printers, and specialized software. The lounge includes snacks, comfortable couches, a meeting room, and resource information.
Kelly Fitzpatrick, director of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs, said that education can be “a critical gateway for many veterans to transition out of the military into a successful civilian career.”
A Veterans Affairs committee evaluated the proposal of each college and university that applied for the grants, approving some projects and declining others. Other institutions receiving the Veterans Resource grants are the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University and Western Oregon University, and Blue Mountain, Central Oregon, Chemeketa, Clackamas, Klamath, Linn-Benton, Mount Hood, Rogue and Southwestern Oregon community colleges.
To learn more about the Maxwell Student Veterans Center, please visit their webpage.
Lane Community College educates over 25,000 students annually at six locations across Lane County and online. Students and alumni from all 50 states and 79 countries create more than an $850 million dollar impact on the local economy, helping to support more than 13,000 local jobs. Lane provides affordable, quality, professional technical and college transfer programs; business development and employee training; academic, language and life skills development; and lifelong personal development and enrichment courses.