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Maui Community College gets grant from USDA
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Posted on Dec 12 2005
Hawaii State Director Lorraine O. Shin recently announced the award of a $387,743 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant to the Maui Community College.
Funds will be used to actively engage Native Hawaiian students and their “ohana’s” (families) in distance learning by placing necessary home healthcare technology in students’ homes.
MCC plans to take advantage of “next generation” internet access to educational, medical and other informational resources as well as to technological decentralize and distribute learning responsibility to Native Hawaiian students, their families, and communities via the OHANA project. MCC will also provide electronic study groups, financial aid counseling, state-of-the-art learning management systems, mentoring, tutoring and access to telehealth/telemedicine applications via VOIP protocol. Over 6,500 students and residents of the Hawaiian archipelago will benefit from this program.
The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program is designed to enhance educational and health care services in rural America. This year 227 grant applications were received and 162 were found to meet program eligibility requirements. There were 70 successful applicants selected. During the past five years USDA’s Rural Development has invested over $4.6 billion in telecommunications programs across America. A complete list of the successful applicants can be seen at www.rurdev.usda.gov.
USDA Rural Development’s mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life in rural communities. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has invested over $63 billion since the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. Over 1.1 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA’s web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov. (PR)
