Southwest Tech Foundation awarded $1500 from the United Fund of Iowa County

The Southwest Wisconsin Technical College Foundation received a $1500 grant from the United Fund of Iowa County (UFIC) to support the Charger Dream Fund. The Charger Dream Fund is a grant program to help low-income students weather financial emergencies. Students can apply for small grants to help cover expenses just beyond their means, which allows them to quickly return focus to their academic pursuits.

The Charger Dream Fund was established by a grant from Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation and provides small emergency grants up to $500 to help low-income students.  “In order to continue to help our students succeed, we provide emergency grants to our students who are faced with an unexpected financial emergency that may cause them to drop out of school due to financial constraints,” said Holly Clendenen, Executive Director of the Southwest Tech Foundation and Real Estate Foundation. “The Southwest Tech Foundation will continue to seek matching gifts for the grant program. The goal is to increase support for the Charger Dream Fund to $25,000 annually by 2020 for sustainability. This amount will ensure assistance to a minimum of 50 of our most vulnerable students.”

In the past three years Southwest Tech served an average of just over 1,300 Iowa County residents per year which corresponds to 14% of the total student population. When the Charger Dream program initially started awarding grants in March 2016 the grant program awarded $13,000 to 33 students in two months.  10 of those students were from Iowa County, and they received 33% of the total grant monies during the two month period.

The mission of the UFIC is to lead a united effort that improves the quality of life in their community by striving to support community health and human service needs; and raise awareness and distribute financial resources.

For more information on how to support the Charger Dream Fund or other support funds and scholarships, contact the Southwest Tech Foundation at 608.822.2379