$1.5 million allocated to Clark College to boost Ridgefield program
Clark College will receive a federal grant of $1.5 million to help develop the school’s advanced manufacturing center in Ridgefield.
The award is part of a $1.6 trillion omnibus congressional bill that President Joe Biden signed on March 15 to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year 2022, according to Senator Maria Cantwell.
Funding from Clark College will be used to purchase the necessary technology and equipment that will be used in the various engineering-related careers the Boschma Farms campus is expected to offer.
“We are grateful for the work of Senator Cantwell and other members of the Washington delegation in securing this important funding,” Clark College President Karin Edwards said in a press release Monday. “It enhances the college’s ability to move forward with the center’s core mission of training a new generation of workers who need to be tech-savvy.”
Robotics, clean energy, manufacturing and materials science students at the Ridgefield campus will learn to use machine tools such as CNC lathes, water jet cutters, 3D printers and Moreover. Specific objectives will include clean energy careers in which students will be trained as technicians in emerging and expanding solar, wind and hydropower markets.
The campus will also offer general education classes and provide additional opportunities for high school students enrolled in Running Start, a dual-enrollment program for 11th and 12th graders.
Kevin Damore, spokesman for Clark, said the final construction concept for the Boschma Farms campus will cost about $48 million. The $1.5 million provided for in this bill was not anticipated when planning for the project began in the mid-2010s.
Clark College expects a groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus to take place in June, with construction expected to begin in early 2023.
In total, the omnibus bill will provide $51.7 million to the state, of which about $14.1 million will be allocated to 10 projects in southwest Washington.
Congressional appropriations, also known as direct spending, were reintroduced in 2021 after a 10-year hiatus in response to calls for greater transparency in the distribution of federal awards.