Grants & Gifts.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded the Harry T. Fultz Technical School Foundation, in partnership with the Community College of Baltimore County, a $3.5 million grant to help develop a new community college in Albania over a period of eight years.

The community college in Albania will serve traditional and non-traditional students, offering courses in math, science, arts, humanities, technology and business classes, as well as continuing education.

Union Regional Medical Center and South Piedmont Community College in Monroe, N.C., are joining forces to roll out a new program that will allow potential nurses interested in working at URMC to get a financial assistance package of $2,000 per year for up to two years of study at an accredited school or program of nursing. Twenty nursing scholarships will be available.

PMX Industries Inc. has promised a $200,000 gift toward the construction of the proposed Community Training and Response Center at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded Maui Community College in Kahului, Hawaii, $6.9 million in grants for rural development and job-training programs on the neighbor islands. The grants, which will go to programs on Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kauai and the island of Hawaii were awarded through the department's Rural Development Project and the Rural Job Training Initiative.

Eastern Idaho Technical College in Idaho Falls, Idaho, has received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to construct a 60,000-square-foot building for a growing health care program.

The school now must attract another $6.5 million or risk losing the grant.

Ventura College in Ventura, Calif., and Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif., will share a five-year $3 million Title V grant under the "Strengthening Institutions--Hispanic Serving Institutions" program. The grant will be used for development of Web-based services and distance education training for faculty.

Ninety-three-year-old Elizabeth Griswold bequeathed her estate, valued at $2.7 million, to the Great Basic College in Elko, Nev., the largest gift ever made to the community college. Griswold had specified that half her estate be used for building projects and the rest for scholarships.

Community College Week welcomes e-mailed listings for the `Grants &Gifts" section. Please send submissions to Shilpa Banerji at [e-mail]