Owens Community College

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Hallelujah, Mr. Speaker, community college education and all the opportunity it presents with workforce development is finally being implanted in the largest city in the entire northwestern quarter of Ohio at Toledo which has been so long ignored. Community college education is so vital to our future.

I stand here to celebrate this agreement signed this week between the University of Toledo president, Greg Postel; the president of Owens Community College, Dione Somerville; and Toledo Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Romules Durant. I am so proud of them.

I congratulate them for working together to plant seeds of hope and new opportunity for generations denied before us. Education, retraining, GED certification, and workforce skills have so long been denied our citizenry.

I thank them for caring. It would be located on the Scott Park Campus.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all citizens to support this new partnership and to offer their indispensable resources to ensure the enterprise succeeds beyond anything that our community has ever known.

Mr. Speaker, help me make a pathway for a brighter, stronger, more educated and innovative Toledo and region.

God bless the partners. God bless our people. God bless America. [From UToday, Feb. 27, 2024] UToledo, Owens and TPS Partner on Opportunities for Scott Park Campus (By Tyrel Linkhorn)

The University of Toledo, Owens Community College and Toledo Public Schools will work together on an initiative aimed at bringing new educational opportunities to the University's former Scott Park Campus.

The new partnership was announced Tuesday by UToledo President Gregory Postel, Owens President Dione Somerville and TPS Superintendent Romules Durant at an event in which they signed a letter of intent formalizing the agreement.

UToledo sold the Scott Park Campus to TPS last year.

``The University of Toledo is proud to strengthen our long- standing partnerships with Owens Community College and Toledo Public Schools in our shared commitment to ensuring all members of our community have an opportunity to achieve their educational and career goals,'' Postel said. ``By working together, we can help close the educational attainment gap in Toledo to celebrate both individual successes of earning a college degree and also the community benefit of strengthening the workforce and economic prosperity of our region.''

The partnership grew out of a feasibility study commissioned by Owens to look at the potential need for the community college to establish a physical presence within the city of Toledo.

The letter of intent is the first step in the partnership, calling for leaders of the three institutions to collaboratively decide on the type of educational programming that will be offered through the partnership. Partners intend to look at credit and non-credit coursework.

``Our goal is to increase access to high-quality educational opportunities in the city of Toledo that benefit the northwest Ohio region,'' Somerville said. ``With partners at Scott Park, we can build a foundation to address the needs for today's students and workforce development.''

``This new initiative with Owens Community College and The University of Toledo allows TPS to continue providing new and exciting educational opportunities for our students,'' Durant said. ``We are excited that the future of the Scott Park Campus includes not only TPS students but adult learners who are ready to expand their education as they plan for their future.''

UToledo has a number of partnerships with both Owens and TPS. Among them are Rocket Express, which creates a seamless pathway for students to earn a bachelor's degree from UToledo after starting at Owens, and Toledo Early College, which brings hundreds of TPS students to campus as they work toward their high school diploma while also completing college courses.

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