October 2024
Recently, Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer Scott T. Hamilton sat down with Katie Loovis Executive Director of the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation via Zoom and filmed an episode of Critical Conversations. In this series, Scott talks with professionals about economic development issues affecting the state.
The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 to support the mission of the NC Community College System. The Foundation stewards the endowment, manages several scholarships and awards that honor excellence, raises awareness and funds to advance the System’s impact, and supports public-private partnership programs that spark innovation.
With 20 years of experience with executive leadership and management in government, business, and nonprofit sectors, including roles at The White House, GlaxoSmithKline, and Achieving the Dream along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Loovis became the first president of the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation in June 2023.
Although the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation has been around since 1986, the NC Community Colleges Foundation Board decided to hire its first executive director. Loovis said the Community College System staff had previously managed the Foundation but the Board decided they needed more direct focus on the Foundation. She added that North Carolina is first in business in the nation and part of the mission of the Community Colleges is to make sure North Carolinians fill the jobs. Loovis said that she is working with the Board on a major campaign, including a strategic plan and capacity building for the Foundation.
The North Carolina Community College System consists of 58 colleges. Every resident in North Carolina lives within 30 miles of a community college. Loovis said that the Foundation’s job is to support the System and the colleges it serves. She said all 58 colleges have an independent foundation. The foundations have a shared vision and work together. The individual foundations add tremendous value at the local and regional level. Loovis added that the college foundations and the System foundation really work together and try not to overstep each other.
Hamilton asked Loovis how the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation is responding to the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene. Loovis said that 26 counties and a tribal area were impacted in western North Carolina. She added that 14 community colleges in that area were affected including over 6,000 staff and 74,000 students.
Examples of how the North Carolina Community College System’s colleges are responding include Blue Ridge Community College has set up a “tent city” to house and feed federal workers for the next three months that they are working in the area. Loovis said the County is using one of Blue Ridge Community College’s buildings to coordinate volunteer deployment. She added that Blue Ridge Community College’s fire training center is being used to assist in search and rescue. Loovis said that when we talk about Community Colleges we lead with community. She added that this is only one college’s response to the devastation in the west. Many are providing support to the community and region.
Loovis said that a statewide Hurricane Helene Community College Response and Recovery Fund has been set up through NCCCF.org. Each college in the affected areas are also receiving funds through their foundations. She added that President of the North Carolina Community College System Jeff Cox is managing the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation funding for needs specified by the individual colleges.
Other funding to support students can be accessed by reaching out to the individual colleges’ financial aid offices, said Hamilton. For example, Golden LEAF provides funding for scholarships at community colleges. The financial aid office can provide students with how to apply for the Golden LEAF Community Colleges Scholarship as well as other financial need assistance.
The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation empowers the community colleges, said Loovis. One of the exciting strategies that the North Carolina Community College System is working on is called Propel NC. She said the focus of Propel NC is to get more skilled workers to fill positions that are in high demand. Propel NC is a funding model that will help modernize the way the community college system operates, providing a fast track for students into most demand career pathways.
To learn more about the NC Community Colleges Foundation, visit NCCCF.org.