Durham Technical Community College has been selected as one of 15 community colleges across the country to receive a $100,000 PRESS for Completion grant from the Walmart Foundation.

The PRESS (Persistence, Retention, and Student Success) grant will enable Durham Tech to better engage faculty (especially adjunct faculty) and staff in important campus-based reform efforts to ensure that more students have a better chance of staying in college and obtaining a market-valued credential.

Durham Tech was selected through a competitive process that included 50 eligible Achieving the Dream leader colleges. The grant includes a 27-month process during which time DTCC will receive technical assistance and support from Achieving the Dream. In addition, Durham Tech has agreed to serve as a peer coach and be active in a learning community of more than 175 colleges in the larger Achieving the Dream National Reform Network.

Durham Tech’s grant proposal provided an excellent example of what selected colleges intend to do with the funds, Katie Loovis, chief operating officer for Achieving the Dream, said in a news release.

According to DTCC President Bill Ingram, Achieving the Dream has helped Durham Tech make tremendous differences in the lives of students since 2005.

“Our data continues to reveal significant advances in student success – including gains in first-to-second-semester persistence, narrowing of the persistence gap for minority men, and graduating students in higher numbers than ever,” he said. “This exciting new PRESS for Completion partnership with Achieving the Dream and the Walmart Foundation will enable us to expand and deepen our institutional reform efforts and ultimately fulfill our mission of ‘enriching students’ lives and the broader community through teaching, learning, and service’ by positioning our students, faculty, and staff for success.”