Henderson Gleaner
April 16, 2004

Henderson Community College President Patrick Lake came to the Henderson Rotary Club meeting Thursday to launch the public phase of the college's second major fundraising campaign of the last decade, but he quickly acknowledged another pressing subject.

The planned Tri-County Technology Center "that we've been pursuing for 12 years" is, he said, "in limbo" after the closing of the 2004 General Assembly this week and the failure of the legislature to adopt a state budget for the next biennium.

Following the meeting, Lake told The Gleaner he still hopes that "this 12-year effort will get some closure soon."

If the $13 million facility fails to become a reality in the foreseeable future, he said, "We'll continue to utilize the current (leased industrial) facility we have now." That building on Pennell Street is bustling with activity, he said, and clearly demonstrates the need for the technology center that would provide training for the 21st Century workforce and make this area more appealing to prospective industries.

Prior to describing the school's "Fulfilling the Promise" campaign, Lake told Rotarians that HCC no longer can be described as a "state supported" school. Instead, he said, a more apt description is "state assisted."

As of seven years ago, he said, 68 percent of the college's budget was comprised of state funds. This year, that level of support has dropped to 44 percent and the school has experienced four budget cuts in the last three years. While state funds have dwindled, he said, enrollment at the 44-year-old institution has grown by 88 percent.

To describe the new fund-raising campaign that completed its internal phase earlier this year, Lake introduced Campaign Chairman Scott Davis, who is president of Adams Street Development.

Davis said the campaign, whose exact goal has not yet been determined but is expected to be about $3.5 million, has three specific objectives:

- A Child Development Center, likely to cost about $2 million and be constructed on the east side of the campus. It is essential, Davis said, "to be able to provide something so important to our non-traditional students." Fifty percent of the school's enrollment is made up of adult, non-traditional students and two-thirds of the non-traditional students are female.

They often have difficulty securing adequate child care and the need has been frequently cited through student surveys, focus groups, and informal inquiries. The center would include about 15,000 square feet and serve approximately 200 children who are offspring of students and from the community at large. Hours are intended to be "user friendly."

- Technology Infrastructure Advancement. Funds raised for that initiative will, campaign literature states, "allow us to remain current with changes in technology, support functions and program advancements. Area businesses will have access to potential employees who possess the advanced skills and knowledge needed in today's work place."

- Annual scholarships and a scholarship endowment. "Funds for this initiative will allow us to develop creative solutions to overcome barriers that prevent those needing special support from pursuing a college education," the campaign literature states.

Lake said the campaign is expected to conclude at the end of this year or early next year and have pledges paid over a six-year period. The campaign's internal phase saw a 96 percent pledge rate from HCC staff and faculty.

The school's 1994 "Partners in Progress" campaign, combined with grants, yielded $3.5 million for campus and program improvements.

The "Fulfilling the Promise" effort includes all the schools that comprise the 7-year-old Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite narrates a video that is being used in the campaign, and in it he notes that some 1 million Kentuckians function at the lowest literacy levels and thousands of workers lack the skills needed in this highly competitive era.

Most jobs of the future, he said, will require at least 2.5 years of higher education.

The video has been localized for each KCTCS area, and the one utilized in the Tri-County includes comments by HCC alumni Joan Hoffman, former Henderson mayor, and Sandy Watkins, Henderson County judge-executive, who urge the public to support the campaign.

As Watkins concluded, "It's about the future of this community."