Support Your Local Community College

“Education is the bridge between those who have and have not.”

Community colleges have been around for 60 years — an outgrowth of the civil rights movement intended to redress inequities in the availability of education. All these decades later, they’re still providing  a cost-effective, quality two-year higher education for all kinds of students. Some must juggle full-time work with their educations, some may be beginning or restarting their educations, some may have little to spend on education, and many are simply interested in employment-worthy credentialing in their field of interest. Community colleges fill that bill neatly, and at a fraction of the cost of other state-college tuitions.

In celebration of Naugatuck Community College’s 50th anniversary, President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., welcomed a large crowd to a leadership breakfast on the college’s campus in mid-January. She talked about the importance of all people having access to higher education. “Whatever the question,” she said, “education is the answer.”

Even for kids with an uneven record coming out of high school, community college provides opportunity. “Education is the bridge between those who have and have not,” said Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary. “These are the kids that can make a difference if you give them the chance.”

Naugatuck Valley Community College has so much to give, and also has plenty to be proud of.

• In the last ten years, the college has seen a 112% increase in the number of awards granted, 122% increase in the number of male grads, and a 464% increase in Hispanic student grads.
• In September 2017, it was selected as one of only 150 community colleges nationally invited to apply for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
• In November 2017, it was ranked 38th nationwide in Washington Monthly’s ‘Best Colleges for Adult Learners — 2 Year Colleges.’
• During the 2017-2018 school year, it has awarded more than $9.9 million in federal, state, and college grant funding (including from Liberty Bank Foundation) to worthy students.
• Advanced manufacturing certificate recipients  earned 100% job placement in 2017. One hundred percent of students received their radiologic technology and respiratory care certificates, beating the national average.

Liberty Bank salutes NVCC and the other six community colleges we support for their excellence. Programs like theirs make it affordable for people to gain the education they need to support their families and lead productive lives.