Chattanooga State Community College announces it has been awarded a $411,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to start an educational program – Tiger Access. The students who will attend the program will have diagnoses of Down syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injuries, and other conditions.
The students will have an immersive two-year college experience with classes in their chosen fields of career interests. Partners in this endeavor will be the Orange Grove Center and the college’s Workforce Development. All students will have a community-based work experience during their second year as their capstone project before being awarded a Certificate of Completion.
A celebration ceremony will be held in the Faculty and Staff Dining Room at the Main Campus of the college in the Omniplex on Monday at 12:30 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend. During the event the Commissioner of TN DIDD, Brad Turner, will present the college with a check for these efforts and will launch the program.
Chattanooga State is only one of two community colleges in Tennessee to be awarded. The southeast part of the state needs this opportunity; the other community college to have been awarded is Dyersburg State Community College in the northwest region of Tennessee. Other four-year colleges, like The University of Memphis, Lipscomb University, and Vanderbilt University, have also been awarded.
According to Program Co-Directors, Dr. Kristi Strode and Rebecca Aslinger, this is a project that came from the heart; both are mothers of children with applicable diagnoses. We stand ready to make this a state-of-the-art educational offering that will benefit the entire college community and the southeast region of the state. A core value of Chattanooga State is that we help others to learn without limits, and the new program, called Tiger Access, allows us to do just that.
College President Dr. Rebecca Ashford said, “I am so proud that Chattanooga State has the opportunity to serve students in our new Tiger Access program with this grant funding from the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. I look forward to seeing these students shine through this innovative learning experience.”