RALEIGH – The State Board of Community Colleges approved $1.94 million to add Access to Achievement workforce training at 10 more colleges, expanding the program to 25 campuses.
The board acted Oct. 16, and the North Carolina Community College System announced the approvals Oct. 22. The 10 colleges will each receive $194,000 to establish the program: Bladen, Cape Fear, Central Carolina, Durham Technical, Fayetteville Technical, Gaston, Isothermal, Pitt, Southwestern and Wake Technical community colleges.
Access to Achievement serves students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. College coordinators help participants develop career plans, move through education pathways and connect with campus resources. The system said about 1,100 people participated during the 2025-26 academic year.
The General Assembly appropriated the money for the expansion. The program began as a two-college pilot in 2022 and later grew to 15 colleges. The board’s latest allocation implements the next expansion rather than merely recommending it.
The board also approved nearly $3.9 million in High-Cost Workforce Start-Up Grants for 13 programs across 15 community colleges, including two regional partnerships. The grants may pay eligible start-up costs such as equipment, faculty salaries, supplies and accreditation, with participating colleges required to provide matching funds.
Thirty-eight of the state’s 58 community colleges applied or participated in applications for those grants, according to the system. The selected programs are tied to workforce sectors where specialized equipment and facilities can make new training expensive.
Board members separately approved nearly $1 million for faculty recruitment and retention in fields including health care, engineering, advanced manufacturing, trades, transportation, information technology, public safety and first-response training. The system said the funding is intended to expand access to high-demand career pathways.
The completed allocations carry statewide political consequence because they put General Assembly appropriations into programs at public colleges and determine which campuses receive new access and workforce-training support. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19-20.
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Photo Credit: Alex Cioaba via Unsplash, under the Unsplash License. Contextual photograph of electronic testing equipment in a technical training setting; proportionally cropped for layout with the canonical NCPN footer added.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.