Jan. 30, 2020 – Grants from the American Electric Power Foundation will enable two Northeast Texas organizations to provide life-changing skills to area students this year.
This month, Community Services of Northeast Texas Inc. received a $50,000 grant to provide a new youth program for high school students called Youth Empowerment Program.
The money will enable the community action agency to develop and implement a multi-faceted program with after-school activities, structured instruction time and time for socialization, study and projects.
Students will learn conventional etiquette protocols and host three black-tie social gatherings and an awards dinner. In addition, they will attend a life simulation training, which teaches good decision-making.
“Finally, our young people can be part of an activity that will serve them forever,” said CSNT’s Executive Director Dan Boyd. “We are always surprised at how our youth are missing some of the basic skills needed to be impactful in the workforce. Thanks to the generosity of the AEP Foundation, we intend to change that, even if it’s one student at a time.”
Texarkana College received $100,000 for advanced manufacturing training equipment.
The grant funds will be used to acquire advanced manufacturing equipment to train students in electrical technology, instrumentation, and industrial technology programs, as well as local industry employees. The advanced manufacturing equipment will be in four modules.
The first module being a “pick and place station” using vacuum technology and linear slide units. The second module being the “joining station” implementing network technology and gripper technology. The third module will be a “distribution station” teaching about a semi-rotary actuator and a suction gripper. The fourth module is a “sorting station” that uses color identification to sort work pieces on the conveyor system. As well as the four modules, an accessory set and software will be included in the purchase of the advanced manufacturing equipment.
Students trained on the advanced manufacturing equipment will develop applied skills of equipment that was once just taught in theory. The students will have new labs to complete that will measure the student’s skill level and will increase the student’s lab scores.
The advanced manufacturing training equipment will help Texarkana College to produce skilled workers in the electrical, industrial maintenance, and instrumentation programs (which are in high demand) for the local industry.
Texarkana College also will be helping each student who trains on the equipment to improve their way of life. It gives students the opportunity to succeed in their career and become a part of the community.
"Together, with our community college partners, we are redefining the future of our local students and developing innovative solutions that grow the community and improve lives," said Jennifer Harland, External Affairs manager.
The AEP Foundation provides a permanent, ongoing resource for charitable initiatives involving high dollar values and multi-year commitments in the communities served by AEP and initiatives outside of AEP's 11-state service area.
To find out more about the application process, visit https://www.aep.com/community/givingback.
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)
SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (AEP: NYSE) company, serves more than 536,000 customers in western Arkansas, northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and SWEPCOConnections.com.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s approximately 18,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 219,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 32,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including about 5,200 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, East Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.