Trident Tech receives $2.6M to assist students seeking health care careers

Trident Technical College has landed a $2.6 million federal stimulus grant for services that help students pursuing health care careers.

Those services will promote student success, retention and employment after graduation.

Mary Thornley, president of Trident Tech“This is not a bricks and mortar grant,” said Mary Thornley, president of Trident Tech. “The focus of this grant is to provide personnel so that we can increase the number of health care program graduates and retain students already in the pipeline.”

The money is from a $225 million grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, that is meant to help community colleges, state work force agencies and other public and community entities deliver training that leads to employment in a range of health care fields and other growing industries.

Thornley said that locally, the most pressing need for health care workers is in the fields of nursing and medical assisting.

Partnering with Trident Tech on the project are the Trident Workforce Investment Board, Trident One Stop Career System, Trident Health System, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, East Cooper Regional Medical Center, the Tri-County Black Nurses Association, the Franklin C. Fetter Community Health Center and the S.C. Nurses Association.