Funding the Future

Two diverse new grants will provide tangible benefits for Saint Paul College, its students, and a local business.

A pair of new grants promise to help Saint Paul College and its students get ready for the demands of the future.

Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program grant

As part of a nearly $50,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program grant, Saint Paul College will team with Minneapolis-based architecture, planning, and interiors firm Hay Dobbs to design and implement a performance-management system that will align key competencies with company strategies. According to the grant's writer, Joy Sommers, the grant, which began July 1 and runs for one year, will allow the College's Customized Training & Consulting division to provide the firm with training in the areas of project management, performance management, teamwork, leadership, CAD, and lean-flow office. The result will be the empowerment, training, and cross-training of the company's 19 employees to improve productivity and effectiveness.

David Baker, business development manager for Customized Training & Consulting, says the grant is "a real nice way for companies to get training money for their site. It helps companies raise skill levels and be more competitive, which is a win-win for everybody."

Xcel Energy has made a $15,000 gift to Saint Paul College's Energy Process Technology Program, a certificate and AAS degree program in which students learn the processes, equipment, systems, and information needed to gain employment in such places as power-generation facilities and refineries. The gift will be used to develop an Xcel Energy Foundation Endowment that, according to Candace Bowman, Xcel Energy's director of learning and performance management, will pay for student scholarships through the initial gift's interest. In addition, Saint Paul College Foundation Director Kari Rambo notes that similar past scholarships have been used as marketing and recruiting tools to encourage student enrollment.

Pictured above is, from left, Candace Bowman, Xcel Energy; Saint Paul College President Donovan Schwichtenberg; and Saint Paul College Foundation President Richard McCarthy.