United Way Presents $110,000 Grant To Lincoln High

LINCOLN — Lincoln High School will use a $110,000 grant to help young adults become certified in certain skills and trades so they can go to work in higher paying jobs.

United Way of Northwest Arkansas last week awarded 38 two-year grants totaling about $2.9 million to 31 organizations in the area.

The funding is part of United Way’s program called Children Living in Poverty. Its goal is to create a pathway out of poverty for every child in Northwest Arkansas.

Lincoln will receive $60,000 the first year and $50,000 the second year.

This is the second grant Lincoln High School has received from United Way.

Last summer, the organization awarded a $100,000 grant to Lincoln to help students get certified in certain skills and provide personalized learning opportunities for all students.

Lincoln used the 2016 grant to purchase equipment and materials and pay for costs to offer courses so students could become

certified personal care assistants and be certified in skills that include forklift training, computer programming, Microsoft certifications and trades under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Jana Claybrook, district curriculum coordinator for Lincoln Consolidated School District, said the latest grant allows Lincoln to continue its goal to help young people be prepared after high school.

The new grant will be used to continue the certification courses but also will be used to offer incomebased scholarships so that young adults ages 18-24 can enroll in the classes.

This past year, Lincoln created its own Lincoln Health Career Training Academy to offer courses in first aid, CPR and personal care assistants. For 2017-18, the training academy will offer a certified nursing assistant (CNA) course and young adults 18-24 will be able to apply for scholarships for this class as well as the others.

Many of the students who took courses in the Health Career Training Academy were seniors, Claybrook said. The United Way grant will allow the school district to continue to reach those students and help them beyond high school.

“This gives them the opportunity to get certified and have a job,” Claybrook said.

Melody Timinsky, vice president of community impact with United Way, said the organization received 56 letters of inquiry about the grant program and 41 were invited to submit applications. A panel of 34 community volunteers rated and scored the applications and selected 38 to be funded.

This year’s program divided applications into seven categories. Lincoln’s application received funding under the “Developing Self-Sufficiency” category.

United Way is targeting poverty because it is a “big issue” in Northwest Arkansas, Timinsky said.

“That’s why we feel it’s so important to invest in our communities,” she said.

COURTESY PHOTO Representatives of Lincoln Consolidated School District accept a $110,000 grant from United Way of Northwest Arkansas. The district will receive $60,000 the first year and $50,000 the second year. Dallas Muss, vice president of gift-in-kind operations, presented the grant to Lincoln on behalf of United Way.

COURTESY PHOTO This photo shows Lincoln High School seniors who earned certifications during the 2016-17 school year. Certifications were earned in courses that included CPR, personal care assistant, forklift driving and computer programming. These certifications were possible through a United Way grant received last summer. Lincoln last week received another United Way grant to expand the program.

COURTESY PHOTO Prairie Grove High School received a two-year, $12,000 grant last week from United Way of Northwest Arkansas. The grant will be used to purchase equipment for the school’s new certified nursing assistant course. The course will be offered through a new Health Professions Pathway that is part of the high school’s Conversion Charter. Prairie Grove will receive $6,000 each year from the grant.