Record $66.3 Million Raised During Campaign

The five-year "Powering A Stronger Future" campaign proved to be a tremendous success, raising $66,316,795 for Central Piedmont Community College. More than 3,270 donors made gifts and pledges to the campaign, with more than half of the benefactors giving to the college for the first time. The campaign opened with a $40-million goal, making it the most ambitious campaign in Central Piedmont's history. When the campaign closed on June 30, it had surpassed its goal by more than $26 million, setting a new, all-time fundraising record for the college.

Among the larger gifts received were:

  • $10 million from an individual benefactor to support the arts and humanities
  • $5 million from an individual donor for scholarships
  • $4 million from the Foundation for the Carolinas to support the college's early Childhood Education Program and students

The campaign's priorities concentrated on assisting students, ensuring instructional excellence, and providing for faculty and staff development.

"The Powering A Stronger Future campaign has enabled the college to establish 81 new scholarships; enrich the student experience through increased access to academic support, mentoring, and advising services; serve Charlotte's most under-resourced and fragile populations through accelerated adult learning and expanded programming for early childhood educators; and enhance our annual fund to sustain essential operations and services that ensure student success," explained Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, Central Piedmont president.

"The college sincerely thanks everyone who made a gift or pledge during the campaign. Their generosity is helping Central Piedmont transform lives by providing pathways to opportunity, career success and greater economic mobility. We also thank our campaign chairs, campaign committee, and the Central Piedmont Foundation Board of Directors. Their dedication and love for the college made this a wonderfully historic effort," Deitemeyer added.

Leading the campaign were Pat Rodgers, honorary chair; Weston Andress, Linda Lockman-Brooks, and Carl Showalter, campaign co-chairs; and campaign committee members Benton Bragg, Edwin Dalrymple, Claudia Heath, Jonathan Ishee, Susan Jamison, Christine Katziff, Christian Robinson, Caldwell Rose, and Glenn Sherrill. 

Central Piedmont celebrated the close of the Powering A Stronger Future campaign at a Sept. 15 dinner, held on Central Campus, in the new Parr Center.

View photos of the event.

View our campaign highlight video.

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Community, Foundation News. Tagged as poweringastrongerfuture.

Bank of America Gift Enables Atrium Health Meaningful Medicine Opportunity at Central Piedmont

Thanks to a $10 million gift from Bank of America last month, Atrium Health has brought its Meaningful Medicine program to Central Piedmont Community College with the opening of a community-based virtual clinic. The clinic will provide health opportunities for students and staff, in addition to providing career pathways for students at Central Piedmont.

"Atrium Health's belief that care should be 'for all' is taking place at Central Piedmont Community College with the opening of this new, community-based virtual clinic," said Dr. Scott Rissmiller, enterprise executive vice president and chief physician executive for Atrium Health. "With the generous gift from Bank of America, Atrium Health's Meaningful Medicine supports improved access to health care and expands health equity and helps grow our next generation of health care workers in our community."

The new virtual care clinic at Central Piedmont aims to unite the best innovations within health care, social impact and workforce development to directly target health equity and economic mobility goals within Charlotte. With improved access to health care, the clinic will help mitigate disease progression, reduce missed class days due to illness and optimize access to primary care and a medical home.

Utilizing innovative technologies and digital diagnostics, the clinic will offer a variety of services, including: evaluation and treatment of common medical concerns; point of care testing and sample collection, such as strep throat testing, COVID testing, etc.; electronically prescribe medications to a pharmacy that's convenient to the patient; care coordination and support for patients to establish or reconnect with a medical home; coordinating follow-up appointments with primary care providers; and, connecting students and families to a host of community resources through Atrium Health's Community Resource Hub from food pantries to housing and financial assistance needs.

"Atrium Health's Meaningful Medicine program is a wonderful partnership that will create accessible, community-based virtual-care sites at Central Piedmont Community College and YMCA locations," said Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont. "We are excited the community-based virtual clinic at Central Piedmont will be available to students, their family members, college employees and our community neighbors. We believe the clinic will provide a much needed and appreciated service."

Meaningful Medicine is a highly collaborative program uniting the best innovations within health care, social impact and workforce development all with the objective of directly targeting health inequality in Charlotte. The Atrium Health, Bank of America and Central Piedmont partnership will allow for the evaluation and development of a replicable, scalable and successful model for other cities across the United States. This investment will serve two valuable purposes: providing health care access to our most vulnerable communities and offering a pathway to a health care career for students and, for many, providing the opportunity to end the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Posted in Announcements, Campus, Foundation News.

Honeywell Makes $1-Million Gift to Establish STEM Scholars Academy

Honeywell, a global leader in aerospace, building technologies, performance materials, and technologies, has made a $1-million gift commitment to Central Piedmont Community College to establish the Honeywell STEM Scholars Academy at the college. The gift will come to Central Piedmont in annual installments of $200,000 over the next five years.

Representatives from Honeywell and Central Piedmont pose for photoThe gift and the creation of the Honeywell STEM Scholars Academy were announced during a Sept. 6 event , at Honeywell's global headquarters, in Charlotte.

The Honeywell STEM Scholars Academy will boost diversity among students enrolled in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) programs at the college who are pursuing a certification, degree, and careers in a high-demand STEM-related field. The college plans to involve 100 students in the academy, beginning in fall 2022, and seeks to engage 125 additional students each year, over the next four years.

"Many thanks to Honeywell for this generous gift that will help the college transform even more lives while filling a real need in this community -- graduating more students with a background in STEM," said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont. "The STEM Scholars Academy will seek to recruit and retain students from populations currently underrepresented in STEM fields. This will help Central Piedmont better address the local workforce's demands and prepare our students for greater economic mobility and career prospects in the future."

As a Honeywell STEM Scholars Academy student, participants will have the opportunity to focus on one of three STEM academic pathways at Central Piedmont engineering, health sciences, or information technology and have access to a variety of Central Piedmont's student support services, including tutoring, coaching, peer mentoring, career counseling, and more.

"Honeywell's investment in STEM education is about helping to advance economic mobility for minority students by removing financial barriers to education and guiding them toward in-demand careers," said Karen Mattimore, chief human resources officer and senior vice president for Honeywell. "Honeywell is a key employer in STEM fields because we understand investing in education will contribute to a strong pipeline of career-ready graduates."

In addition to having the opportunity to take advantage of Central Piedmont's many academic resources, academy students will receive STEM education and training opportunities through the Carolina Youth Coalition, a non-profit organization that prepares high-achieving, under-resourced students to enter, excel in, and graduate from college so they can become full participants in society.

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Foundation News, Scholarships. Tagged as poweringastrongerfuture.

College Dedicates Pauline Dove Gallery

Central Piedmont dedicated the Pauline Dove Gallery, located in the college's new Parr Center, on September 8.

Pauline, affectionately known as "Polly," taught art at the college for 30 years, before retiring in 2000.

A world-renowned artist, her work has been exhibited across the globe, including in Canada, India, Germany, Finland, Kenya, and Peru. Today, her paintings can be viewed on billboards across the Queen City, promoting ARTPop, an Arts & Science Council initiative that showcases local artists' work in public places to make art accessible to all people in the Charlotte community.

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Foundation News.