Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) is excited to announce the institution is a recipient of a $250,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The grant will be allocated to the purchase of two customized vans to assist the College’s various needs.
The ARC is an economic development partnership entity of the federal government and 13 state governments that focuses on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. The entity’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth. With assistance from the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission (Northwest Commission), the college was able to submit a successful grant proposal to the ARC.
The College will match the grant amount and a total of $500,000 will be used for the overall execution of grant activities that include two branded vans for instructional and student service support. The goal of this project is to satisfy various current and future needs Northern Pennsylvania Regional College may have when serving students.
One van will be designated to haul equipment throughout our footprint to support labs and training programs; making hands-on learning more accessible for our region. The second van will be designed with more flexible, multi-purpose use to support various academics, workforce development, and student services activities. This vehicle will serve as a mobile space that helps facilitate convenient access to potential training aids, smaller lab equipment, and NPRC’s career closet, to name a few uses. This van will also provide our team’s transportation to off-site programming, while providing static recruitment and visibility opportunities.
NPRC President Susie Snelick has been one of the leaders for this project; continually encouraging team members to use local resources for assistance and to think deeply on what additions to the College could make the biggest impact. She shares, “Innovation is key to NPRC and continuing to serve rural Pennsylvania. Our team is always exploring opportunities for continuous improvement through creative approaches to our work. This grant will allow us to take hands-on learning experiences directly to the rural communities we serve from all three areas of the college — academics, workforce development, and student services. A huge thank you to the internal committee that developed the application as well as Northwest Commission for shepherding us through the process.”
The official request for proposal is now available on NPRC’s website. The College hopes to accept a proposal submission by the end of 2023. For more information on submitting a request for proposal and more specifics about these vans, visit NPRC’s Open Bids webpage.
NPRC acknowledges that the information contained in this content is complete and accurate at time of publication. It is descriptive in nature and the college reserves the right to make any adjustments it deems necessary or desirable. Updates to programs, tuition, or other academic-related items will be reflected in the online College Catalog or on the respective College web pages. Questions regarding accuracy of content may be emailed to marketing@rrcnpa.org.