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Community Programs

Florissant Valley is a key partner to many north St. Louis County civic, educational and community groups.   

The award-winning North County CARES program is a community outreach initiative that seeks to promote and support North County employers and service providers by coordinating resources, identifying funding and offering educational opportunities that promote individual and community growth.  The initiative works with community leaders to enhance the quality of life for residents and is tailored specifically for the north St. Louis County community.  

The initiative focuses primarily on four areas: 

  • Sponsor professional development workshops, forums, and conferences for employers and service providers who serve and hire individuals in transition.
  • Provide outreach to North St. Louis County school districts to create a link between area schools and the Florissant Valley campus and provide educational support for at-risk students.
  • Coordinate community resources and support services for residents and service providers.
  • Partner with community and faith based organizations that provides services to children, youth and adults in transition.

Contact: Marsha Bonds, 314-513-4742, mjbonds@stlcc.edu 

Vision GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a discretionary grant program administered by Florissant Valley in partnership with the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Jennings School District, University of Missouri-St. Louis and North County CARES.  GEAR UP was enacted in 1998 by the U.S. Department of Education to fund partnerships of high-poverty middle schools, colleges and universities, community organizations and businesses to work with entire grade levels of students.  The partnerships provide tutoring, mentoring, information on college preparation and financial aid, and an emphasis on core academic preparation.  The program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
Contact: Flossie Henderson, 314-513-4140, fhenderson@stlcc.edu 

 

Florissant Valley has received a $350,000 start-up grant to become a Gateway to College replication site, a national drop-out recovery model developed by Portland Community College in Oregon. The Gateway to College national network is part of the early College High School Initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Gateway to College program is designed for young adults aged 16 to 20 who dropped out of high school. The program enables them to earn a high school diploma while simultaneously earning college credit toward an associate degree or certification; the grant pays for student maintenance fees and books.

The grant provides student support staff and services for up to 350 students from the Hazelwood and Ferguson-Florissant school districts who left high school without a diploma. Students must meet specific criteria for entrance into the program and are dually enrolled at the Florissant Valley campus until they complete their high school diploma or reach the age of 21. Since 2002, the 13 partner organizations of the Early College High School Initiative have started or redesigned 160 schools in 24 states. The organization invited the Florissant Valley campus to apply to participate in this national program.
Contact: Angela Brooks, 314-513-4216, abrooks@stlcc.edu

 

The Office of Continuing Education and Community Engagement offers life-long personal and professional development learning opportunities through classes that sharpen your professional skills or activities you can enjoy in your leisure time. You can choose from hundreds of courses - everything from computer skills, art, languages, gardening, golf, finance, to dance, and much more. Specialized courses include classes for childcare providers, nursing and allied health courses, offerings in small business administration and entrepreneurship, and courses for children.  Community engagement activities, including the Healthy Summit, Family Safety Summit and Youth Sports and Enrichment program, also are offered.
Contact:  Ken Trzaska, 314-513-4220, ktrzaska@stlcc.edu