NNMC News:

ESPAÑOLA — One of Northern New Mexico College’s (NNMC) unsung success stories is the amount of grant money it has received in recent months.

These grants will allow Northern to better support its students, build programs, hire faculty, increase workforce training options and even begin planning for an El Rito microgrid.

“We have been establishing our grant portfolio to enhance our program offerings at Northern. It takes a significant amount of coordination and effort on the part of many NNMC staff to develop this many proposals,” NNMC President Bárbara Medina said. “I am particularly grateful to Dr. Ivan Lopez for his leadership and Zeke Parra, Kristy Alton and the folks in Finance and Administration who are actively encouraging our grant portfolio at Northern. Their commitment to student success is a tremendous asset for Northern.”

Three major federal and state grants have been awarded recently:

The U.S. Department of Education 2022 “NNMC El Centro Title V Program” five-year grant for $2,674,75, which will be used to expand NNMC’s capacity to support and guide dual enrollment/dual credit (DE/DC) and transfer students successfully into academic and career pathways, create a new Center for Teaching and Learning, and strengthen NNMC’s fiscal stability through increased enrollment, retention, persistence, transfer, graduation and career placement success for Hispanic and low-income students. This is the third Title V grant NNMC has received in the last four years.

The New Mexico Higher Education Department has granted two $2.5 million awards to create two faculty endowed positions, one for Teacher Education and one for the Nursing program. 

NNMC’S Upward Bound program received a five-year renewal from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will provide $297,007 a year (nearly $1.5 million dollars) to support participants in their preparation for college entrance. Northern’s program serves 60 first generation and low-income college-bound high school students from Española Valley High School each year.

Northern also has been awarded several smaller grants that will benefit specific programs.

The New Mexico Public Education Department has awarded Northern’s Teacher Education program two major grants: $783,000 from the NMPED Teacher Residency program to promote and support educator preparation programs and $286,250 from NMPED Teacher Stipends to fund teacher residency faculty and student stipends

Northern’s Associate Degree Nursing Program received $680,000 from the NMHED in Nursing Expansion funds for AY 2023. The funds will be used to expand program enrollment, increase program completion rates, maintain success rates on the RN licensure exam and recruit and retain qualified nursing faculty and staff. The goal is to retain and graduate diverse nursing students to meet the local workforce needs for Registered Nurses.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded $481,000 to Northern as part of the American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge. The grant’s lead agency, the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District, is collaborating with several Northern New Mexico colleges and universities to create the Northern New Mexico Workforce Integration Network (WIN), a healthcare, building and construction workforce training program. The goal is to create pathways into high-paying jobs in healthcare and construction with a focus on Latino, Indigenous and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as individuals recovering from substance use disorder. Northern will use a portion of the funding to hire faculty in health sciences, technical trades and Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST).

NNMC’S Technical Trades program received a $219.9K grant from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (ENMRD) for the Resilient El Rito Micro Grid project. This planning stage grant will be used to coordinate the design and engineering of a microgrid to provide power to the El Rito area and the NNMC El Rito campus, with a battery storage system for off-peak sun energy times. The projected completion date is July 1, 2023.

Northern’s Technical Trades program is also one of four colleges contracted by the ENMRD to deliver training on the 2018 International Energy Compliance Code for construction industry professionals. The free trainings provided by NNMC, Doña Ana Community College, San Juan College and Santa Fe Community College prepare design/build professionals as well as code officials to comply with new conservation requirements.

The New Mexico Higher Education Department (NMHED) awarded $50,000 to Northern’s food pantry, La Despensa del Barrio, to expand food distribution to serve more students and connect students with state, local and federal resources. The Student Food Security Grants are part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Food, Farm, and Hunger Initiative. NNMC is one of 15 colleges to receive funding from the program, which anticipates benefiting more than 15,000 students, ensuring that they have adequate food and nutrition to succeed in school.

Additional grants include:

• NMPED Perkins Grant Nursing/Trades: $127,992 for career and technical education programs;
• An Early Childhood Student Success grant of $170,500 to support students enrolled in early childhood education programs;
• Three NM-INBRE Awards totaling $142,308 for Biology and Chemistry Research Programs for Faculty & Students;
• The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) MSI Workforce Program awarded $275,000 from the Minority Serving Institution Capacity Enhancement Grant;
• Congressional Directed Spending provided $260,000 in funding for NNMC’s agriculture farm and medicinal herbs; and
• The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions has awarded the college a total of $159,998 to provide Career and Technical Education Programs in Welding, Carpentry and for Electrical Linemen.