| Housatonic Community College will receive a Community Outreach Partnership Centers Program New Grant of $399,574 to work with its community partners in inner-city Bridgeport on addressing a wide range of community-identified needs. These include organizational and capacity building; job training; fair and affordable housing; childcare; and family literacy.
The activities to be undertaken include:
Providing technical assistance to local Community Councils and Community Development Corporations, particularly in the areas of board management, personnel policies, governance, and the Community Development Block Grant program;
Having Housatonic students serving as mentors to students participating in a local youth capacity building program called Youth as Resources;
Offering non-credit courses, off-site at Bridgeport Housing Authority developments, to train community health advisors;
Teaming up with Fairfield University to provide lead screening, education, and follow-up for Bridgeport residents of all ages;
Conducting seminars for first-time homebuyers, including helping people spot predatory lending practices; and
Designing and implementing an Early Accreditation Support Program, targeting those child care providers in Bridgeport's inner city that are interested in obtaining accreditation to become child care providers.
Over $350,000 will be provided in match, much of it from partners including Connecticut-Charts-A-Course, the Greater Bridgeport Area Foundation, and the Southwestern Area Health Education Center.
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