BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Community College received a five-year, $1.039 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to assist Louisiana students with intellectual disabilities.

The grant, awarded by the DoE’s Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities initiative, will expand opportunities and create a technology-driven lab for students with intellectual disabilities to help them achieve academic success and secure meaningful employment, BRCC said.

The grant will help fund BRCC’s Believing in Every Ability and Realizing Success Comprehensive Transition Program will expand inclusive pathways for students with intellectual disabilities by integrating credit-bearing coursework, industry-based certifications, structured work-based learning and independent living skill development.

The BEARS program will be 75% funded by the grant, with the remaining 25% financed by BRCC through non-federal sources.

“This prestigious grant is only awarded to 27 institutions of higher learning across the country. Only a few of those are community colleges, so we are extremely proud to be selected,” BRCC Chancellor Willie E. Smith Sr. said. “This underscores how committed BRCC is to providing outstanding educational opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities. This grant will only enhance our ability to help these students achieve success academically, socially and in the workforce.”