In the last six months or so, CCS Chancellor Christine Johnson was visiting Fairchild Air Force Base for a meeting about how to best serve students based there. While there, it was discovered that airmen’s (a nongender specific term) spouses were having trouble completing their education or even pursue a degree at all.
From that conversation, Chancellor Johnson spoke with outgoing Spokane Mayor David Condon. A foundation account with the CCS Foundation was set up to offer scholarships for military spouses.
At Mayor Condon’s annual Our Town Gala, funds were raised to support three local initiatives including the Fairchild Families Forward fund. It is described as “(A) fund dedicated to educational advancement for Fairchild military spouses” on the ticket sales page for the gala. The gala donated $25,000 to the fund.
The fund isn’t just tuition scholarships. It’s for “anything that will help,” said SFCC President Kimberlee Messina. “(That’s) why they called it Fairchild Families Forward.”
Anything that helps means it’s based on what an individual needs to be able to attend college. This might mean child care or help with purchasing textbooks. Whatever is needed.
“It’s an ongoing effort,” Messina said.
The fund is not all that’s soon available to Fairchild personnel. SFCC is relaunching classes at Fairchild in winter quarter after not doing so for a number of years.
SFCC has recently hired an individual who will split their time between Fairchild Air Force Base and SFCC as a support role for whatever veterans and military members might need to be successful in college.
Messina talked about how this could include selecting students classes, setting up work study and financial aid or connecting them with counselors.
“Our Fairchild families support the community every day,” Johnson said in a news release. “By providing the encouragement they need to make the next step in their education and career, we can show them that Spokane is a supportive community where the entire family can achieve their dreams.”
Currently there is not a way to apply for the fund on the CCS Foundation website. If you are interested in learning how to do so, contact foundation@ccs.spokane.edu for more information.