Metallica Expands Community College Workforce Initiative

• Eleven new community colleges joined the Metallica Scholars Initiative.
• Those schools will receive $100,000 each to boost workforce training and the student experience.
• The initiative is a partnership between Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation and the American Association of Community Colleges.
• The nationwide effort, launched in 2019, now includes more than 40 colleges across 33 states.

Community college funding comes from a variety of sources, often cobbling together a mix of federal, state, and local funding to keep critical workforce training accessible to students.

Now, 11 additional community colleges have joined a growing initiative that includes investments from a rather unconventional source: a foundation created by the legendary heavy metal band Metallica.

Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, announced an expansion of the Metallica Scholars Initiative to 11 additional community colleges on July 26.

That initiative supports career development and training via grants that boost the student experience, according to a press release. The 11 additional schools means the Metallica Scholars Initiative will now support 42 community colleges across 33 states. The band and their foundation have invested more than $6 million and supported more than 5,000 students through the effort so far.

The Metallica Scholars Initiative is a strong and cooperative community of the nation's best community colleges creating a supportive climate for participants to communicate directly and share best practices, All Within My Hands Foundation Executive Director Peter Delgrosso said in the release.

As a result, our Metallica Scholars leave the program well-trained and confident. Ultimately the impact is felt in their local communities, and on the national scale, as Metallica Scholars enter the workforce and fill, or create much needed workforce and technical positions.

Each of the 11 new schools will receive $100,000 to boost students' career training:

• Aiken Technical College in South Carolina
• Central Wyoming College
• Columbia State Community College in Tennessee
• Front Range Community College in Colorado
• Itawamba Community College in Mississippi
• Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
• Oxnard College of California's Ventura County Community College District
• South Central College in Minnesota
• South Louisiana Community College
• Texas State Technical College
• Western Dakota Technical College in South Dakota

Community colleges have stepped up as key partners in combating nationwide workforce shortages in recent years.

Industry growth has outpaced the supply of workers in high-demand fields like cybersecurity, infrastructure and construction, sustainability, information technology, and other rapidly growing industries. And both private employers and government officials have in recent years turned to community colleges to address those burgeoning workforce needs.

Colleges across the country provide pathways to well-paying jobs through programs, services and training that lead to in-demand skills, certificates and degrees for students, American Association of Community College President and CEO Walter G. Bumphus said in the release.

These programs are responsive to the needs of local businesses and provide a pipeline of qualified workers to local industry. Partners like Metallica that continue to provide support for community colleges help us to showcase the importance of investing in the transformative power of community college education.