SANFORD - Central Carolina Community College has received a $1.3 million grant to continue its Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program, serving local veterans in their preparation for college. The program will serve 125 local veterans each year in Chatham, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, and Wake counties.

The grant award is $258,750 per year for five years, making the total amount of funding received just under $1.3 million over the next five years. This grant is part of a group of six TRiO programs at CCCC aimed at providing services to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds as they progress into and through college. Veterans Upward Bound partners with Johnston Community College, Wake Technical Community College, and a host of community organizations to provide services to veterans across the five-county region.

Comprehensive services offered by Veterans Upward Bound include academic instruction and tutoring to help veterans prepare for success in college-level courses; individualized assistance completing college admissions applications; assistance applying for financial aid, GI Bill benefits, and scholarships; employment support; and referrals to other local veteran-serving agencies to meet individual veterans' needs.

The objectives of the program are to help veterans improve their academic skills; successfully complete the program; enter into postsecondary education; and complete a diploma, certificate, associate's degree, or bachelor's degree at the institution of their choice. The ultimate goal of Veterans Upward Bound is to increase the rate at which veterans enroll in and complete postsecondary education programs.

"We are so proud to have the opportunity to continue to serve veterans in our community as they strive to reach their educational goals," said Ashley Tittemore, CCCC Executive Director of College Access Programs. "We have a great team of dedicated staff members and a wonderful network of supportive community partners that enable our program to be successful, and they are always ready to meet and serve veterans in the community who are looking to earn a college degree. It's an honor to continue to host this program at CCCC, and we look forward to many more years of serving as an educational resource to our community's veterans."

"The grant will have a direct positive impact on helping our veterans in the program and will enable us to do more outreach and help even more veterans," said Matt Thewes, new Director of the VUB program and U.S. Air Force veteran.

The Veterans Upward Bound program is one of the Federal TRiO Programs, which are outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRiO programs emerged out of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 in response to the administration's War on Poverty. Veterans Upward Bound was created in 1972, and TRiO now includes eight programs operated by the U.S. Department of Education targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.

Currently there are about 50 Veterans Upward Bound programs nationwide and only one program in North Carolina, however, together the programs serve more than 6,000 veterans nationwide.

Central Carolina Community College's Veterans Upward Bound program is currently seeking new applications from interested veterans for participation in the program.

For more information about the Veterans Upward Bound TRiO program at Central Carolina Community College, call 919-718-7463 or email vub@cccc.edu.

For information about Central Carolina Community College and its programs, visit its website, www.cccc.edu or call the college at 919-775-5401.