12 Oct USDA Grant

Carteret CC awarded nearly $1 million USDA grant

Morehead City, N.C. (October 12, 2020) – Carteret Community College (Carteret CC) was awarded $960,546 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program. Carteret CC is one of 116 projects funded by through the USDA DLT grant program. The program helps health care and education institutions buy the equipment and software necessary to deploy distance-learning and telemedicine services to rural residents.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced investments in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“I am proud of the team that conceived of and wrote our proposal, which will allow Carteret Community College to partner with community organizations and agencies to provide access to education and training,” stated Dr. Tracy Mancini, President of Carteret CC. “The College is excited to have been selected. We were one of seven organizations chosen in North Carolina to receive funding. The grant award will not only benefit Carteret Community College, but all citizens of Carteret County.”

Carteret Community College’s DLT project funding will be used to enhance the College’s existing distance learning program to expand course offerings to include virtual substance abuse certificate programs, suicide prevention and opioid awareness training and increased professional development opportunities to the geographically isolated communities of the North Carolina coast. This opportunity will aid the communities served by allowing for continuing education and professional development opportunities to current substance abuse and suicide prevention paraprofessionals.

This grant funding will enable the College to put computers and other IT/AV equipment to software in communities/organizations throughout the county. Equipment will be installed in Harkers Island (Bridge Downeast), Harlowe (Harlowe Community Center, in partnership with Craven Community College), Beaufort (Department of Social Services and East Carteret High School), Western Carteret Library, Fort Benjamin, the Marine Science and Technology (MaST) High School, and the Broad Street Clinic.

“The College will offer courses from our Substance Abuse/Human Services certificate synchronously at these sites. Clients or residents close to those sites will also be able to use the technology to take online courses, participate in telemedicine opportunities, and have internet access,” stated Dr. Mancini.

If you would like to learn more about the course offerings at Carteret CC, visit www.Carteret.edu or call 252-222-6000.