Barstow, CA-Barstow Community College (BCC) has been selected to receive one of this year’s Innovation Awards from Growing Inland Achievement (GIA). Growing Inland Achievement is a bi-county, educational collaborative in the Inland Empire that brings together leaders in education, civic, and business sectors. GIA works with the Inland Empire educational network to create innovative practices to achieve large-scale social and institutional change. Beginning in 2017, GIA has now distributed nearly 2-million dollars in Innovation Award funding.” The Innovation Award was first awarded in 2017, and GIA has distributed nearly 2-million dollars in the ensuing three years Inlandempiregia.org.
BCC was one of four organizations, and the only community college, to receive this year’s award. In the GIA website announcement, Dr. Ayala, President and CEO at GIA said, “We’re very excited about the 2020 Innovation Award recipients because these four organizations have an exceptional track record of facilitating college and career success for students in the Inland Empire. They also place equity at the forefront of their programs to ensure student success.”
Barstow Community College plans to use these funds to support the development of an instrument to measure the “creative confidence” of students and launch a campaign to reach out to the region with the message “college is for all.” Included in the plans are immersive learning experiences designed to develop innovation and collaboration skills needed in the global workforces of the future. BCC will engage key industry partners including NASA/JPL and Garner Holt Education Through Imagination to provide these opportunities to local Barstow youth. Barstow Unified School District and local non-profit organizations will be included in the project to help reach students typically underrepresented in STEAM educational programming.
The Innovation Award provides $150,000 to be used over a two-year period with a 50% matching funds requirement. These matching funds must be provided by local resources to promote sustainability and organizational capacity.
Barstow Community College is proud and honored to have been chosen as a 2020 Innovation Award recipient.
