CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER $600,000 current
Over the past four decades, the number of single parents enrolled in community & technical colleges has increased significantly to the point that the non-traditional student (over 21 years of age and/or with children) is becoming the traditional student. Nearly 60% of our students are non-traditional, with many being single parents. Many of these students work outside the home, and take care of their children while they attend classes. The Child Development Center will provide students and employees of ACTC necessary child care on site. This facility will also provide real-world experience to the ACTC students enrolled in the Early Childhood Education Program. Property for this Center has been acquired on Harlan Street adjacent to the ACTC College Drive Campus. This site is more than adequate to accommodate a 4000-square-foot facility with potential for expansion when needed.

The availability of child care on site for students allows them to remain on campus enabling them to study, use library facilities, perform necessary lab work and research, while their children are kept nearby in a safe and nurturing environment. For many of these students, attending ACTC is the first opportunity for them to work on improving their lives and the lives of their families. If child care is not provided, they cannot attend college. They should not be forced to decide whether they either take care of their children or get an education. They must get an education to provide a better life for themselves and for their family. By obtaining an associate degree, a student can expect to earn an additional $250,000 over a lifetime. Some will probably exceed this. An investment in this child development center today is an investment in the community's life of tomorrow.


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY $1,200,000 endowment
While our region's math and science test scores for K-12 students are improving, they are not at an acceptable level. Many students arrive on our campus not equipped to succeed in math and science courses. The economic future of our community is greatly influenced by a population educated in science and technology.

Providing practical educational experience for our K-12 students is essential to establishing a thorough understanding of the scientific method and a 'want to learn' attitude towards both science and technology. A breakthrough in understanding often happens when a student wants to learn. The student not only learns but expands their capacity to learn and achievement becomes expected behavior.

Science Fairs have long been known for their role as catalysts for young people to motivate the desire to know more about science, math and the related disciplines. In the past, local businesses funded individual science fairs, but as funding ceased from businesses, so did the science fairs. Our service area in northeastern Kentucky does not have a comprehensive, ongoing annual regional science fair.


An endowment would be established to fund a Regional Science Fair and other similar science initiatives that would be managed and sponsored by ACTC. American Electric Power has committed to give $150,000 over the next three years to the KCTCS Foundation to provide funding for science initiatives of this nature for the three community and technical colleges in their service territory. ACTC will be the recipient of one-third of the revenue from this endowment.



ACTC is seeking a minimum of $1.5 million to establish this endowment: one that would ensure permanent funding for the science and technology initiative.

WORKPLACE LITERACY $1,000,000 Endowment
Today's business and industry standards require a high level of literacy, technical expertise, and knowledge. In many cases, our citizens do not have the requisite skills or knowledge to satisfy the basic employer needs of the 21st century. In our service area 45% of our adults over 25 years of age are at levels 1 or 2 in literacy. These levels are unacceptable to today's employers: multi-tasking, problem solving, and planning cannot be performed effectively at these levels of literacy. In addition, a number of our citizens have learning disabilities that, though they have a high ability to learn, prevent them from doing so.

Most of our employers in the region have 100 or fewer employers. Like many communities, employers of this size employ the majority of the workforce. With small employers, training can be difficult to arrange and cost is often prohibitive.

A workplace literacy endowment will provide funding for increased accessibility of both the employer and employee to efficient, cost effective training. It would also provide for those in our region with learning disabilities to receive the necessary assistance, training and education to give them the skills to be more productive. This would allow the human asset value of our region to increase, and would provide more opportunities for our citizens. Quality of life and economic development efforts will benefit from this training. We are seeking a minimum of $1,000,000 for an endowment to provide funding for this initiative. Training programs for small employers will be provided on a 50/50 basis with the endowment and the employer paying equally. ACTC would establish, manage and provide the training.


FACULTY ENDOWMENT $500,000 Per Endowment
Each of our lives has been influenced by wonderful and effective teachers. The faculty of ACTC is dedicated to the educational success of our students, and many have been recognized for their performance as excellent teachers. However, substantial rewards such as salary stipends or extra funds for needed equipment have not been provided for recognized excellence.

In business and industry excellent performers who go beyond the expectations and provide realistic results that can be documented and measured are rewarded by their employers in a systematic manner. We propose to not only recognize faculty whose performance is exemplary but to reward our excellent faculty who document the learning gains of students enrolled in their classes. Exemplary performance by our faculty matched by documented exemplary performance by their students, is worthy of recognition and reward. The endowed chair recipients will be selected through a thorough process to include faculty peer review, faculty self-evaluation and documented student achievement.

The endowment we are seeking to establish is a minimum of $500,000.