BY BRETT PRITCHARD
CACC Coordinator of Public and High School Relations
Alex City – On Thursday July 30th, Jeff Lynn, interim {resident of Central Alabama Community College, conducted a zoom meeting of the steering committee for the new CACC ASPIRE 2030 capital campaign. CACC ASPIRE 2030 is the name of the capital campaign that President Lynn, along with the members of the committee, will be building over the next few months that will unveil the vision for all locations of CACC.
“This is a rare moment for us to pull an extremely talented group of people, from all of our various communities, together to serve on CACC’s first ASPIRE 2030 Steering Committee, ” Lynn stated.
“We have a great college, but we have the opportunity to make it a lot better with the funding that has been passed by our state legislature.”
Chancellor Jimmy Baker and the ACCS Board of Trustees have put together an opportunity for colleges to submit proposals for the needs of each individual college. All 24 community colleges in the system will be competing for the $120 million dollars made available by the passing of a bond issue by the state legislature.
Senator Clyde Chambliss and Representative Ed Oliver will be co-chairing the committee and both feel like this is an opportunity that may not be available again for the foreseeable future.
“I am excited to co-chair this committee with Rep. Ed Oliver,” Chambliss mentioned. “There are a lot of aspects we have to focus on but the facilities on the Alex City campus are a priority. A lot of those facilities have been there since the college began back in the 60’s. It’s time to take a look at renovating or tearing some of those buildings down and building new ones.”
The new proposed campus in Autauga/Elmore counties was discussed and President Lynn said the process has already begun for a new, larger facility in that area.
Representative Ed Oliver echoed Senator Chambliss’ remarks.
“I am very appreciative to work alongside Senator Chambliss and all of the others on this committee,” Oliver said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for all of the communities that CACC serves. We see CACC as an economic engine that has unlimited possibilities.”
There are three phases to this plan. The first phase is self-evaluation where members of the team at CACC will look at what the top priorities are and what needs the most attention. The second phase contains 50 questions in which the committee will focus on regarding multiple facets of every community. Smaller sub-committees will be formed to address more specific ideas and areas. These plans must be submitted to the Chancellor by October 16th. Then we will begin our formal submission of project priorities and funding that will be due at a later date.
“We must dream big and shoot for the stars to build the program we need for our students, high schools, communities, companies, citizens, faculty, staff, and administration,” Lynn stated. “We want to become the strongest economic driver in the area.”
For more information please contact Brett Pritchard at 256-215-4254 or bpritchard@cacc.edu.
