We are proud to announce that we were awarded an $11,648,720 CTE Construction Facilities Expansion Grant from the State of Ohio. These competitive grant funds were made available as part of the state’s biennial budget, which was approved this past July. The state legislature set aside $200 million for career-technical facility expansion projects and an additional $100 million for supporting equipment and technology.
Statewide, many career-technical education (CTE) facilities, like ours, have reached full capacity. State leaders recognized this trend and made funds available to empower schools to expand to serve more students and help meet increased employer demand for graduates. The grant submission process took place this past spring, and projects were awarded this fall using a detailed rubric. In total, 59 grant proposals were submitted, and 35 were approved for funding. Each project was evaluated based on the following criteria: quality of project narrative, rationale for need of construction, documentation in enrollment growth, alignment to state and local labor market, business and industry support, evidence of planning, detailed project information, overall completion, evidence of external partnerships and local contributions.
The CTE Construction Facilities Expansion Grant will support the creation of three new in-demand Polaris programs – Engineering Technology, Robotics and Automation. When completed, this new twenty thousand-square-foot manufacturing center will feature three state-of-the-art labs and supporting classroom spaces, which will enable us to serve additional students while helping to address the skills gap in Ohio.
Polaris Superintendent, Robert Timmons, acknowledges the impact this grant will have on our surrounding communities. “This is an exciting opportunity for Polaris, the region, our students and our employer partners. It will not only allow us to expand our footprint in Middleburg Heights, but it will also enable us to serve more students and create three amazing new programs. The real work starts now…we can't wait to get started!”
This is an exciting new ERA - Engineering, Robotics and Automation at Polaris. Stay tuned for updates on this important project.
#PolarisMeansJobs