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Key Grants $100,000 to Hispanic Scholarship Fund; Helps Cuyahoga Community College Spur Enrollment

Key Grants $100,000 to Hispanic Scholarship Fund; Helps Cuyahoga Community College Spur Enrollment

Published 01-24-06

Submitted by KeyBank

CLEVELAND - Upon receiving a $100,000 donation from the Key Foundation, Cuyahoga Community College today announced its intent to further increase the number of Hispanic students attending the College. Latest U.S. Census figures indicate that the Hispanic population of Cuyahoga County is 3.8 percent. For the College's recently completed fall semester, 881 students, 3.5 percent of the 25,358 fall semester students enrolled, identified themselves as being Hispanic.

"We are pleased that our current enrollment numbers mirror the Hispanic population in Cuyahoga County, but we would like to increase the number of Hispanics we have enrolled. The College created a Hispanic Council in 1992 to identify, prioritize and facilitate initiatives geared toward the Hispanic community. The work of the Council has been invaluable in Tri-C having the second highest number of Hispanic undergraduate students in Ohio, surpassed only by Ohio State University," said Tri-C President Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton.

To provide financial assistance to Hispanic students, the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation established a scholarship fund, the Hispanic Endowment for Student Success, in 2003. The initial goal was to raise $300,000. Because of strong community response, including a generous $100,000 donation from the Key Foundation, Tri-C's Hispanic scholarship fund now exceeds $500,000.

"Tri-C exemplifies excellence among those who are constantly striving to build economically strong and inclusive communities," said Margot J. Copeland, chair of the Key Foundation and director of corporate diversity at KeyCorp. "Celebrating diversity and ensuring it absolutely pervades all of our lives, as Tri-C does, is a wonderful service to the people and organizations across northeastern Ohio whose efforts help our community thrive."

"Our Hispanic scholarship fund will enable the College to reach further into the area's growing Hispanic population and make higher education a reality for many more Hispanic students," said Thornton.

With the help of the Hispanic Council, since 1992 the College has developed a number of initiatives to better serve the Hispanic community. Tri-C has bilingual staffing, a tutoring (Mi Rincon) and mentoring program, a newsletter (Conexiones), Web site presence (http://www.tri-c.edu/hispanic) and now the Hispanic Endowment for Student Success.

"Tri-C welcomes Hispanic students with open arms and has provided me with the help I've needed to pursue my associate degree in nursing," said Diana Castellon. Castellon, who is employed full-time and the mother of three, has received financial assistance from the Hispanic scholarship fund for two consecutive years. Tri-C's Hispanic Council has also helped her with assistance to apply for other scholarships.

"The Hispanic population here and throughout the country is growing. Tri-C is ideally positioned to serve the educational needs of this community and we look forward to increasing the number of Hispanic students we enroll each semester," said Thornton.

Cuyahoga Community College
Ohio's first and largest community college, Cuyahoga Community College, serves 55,000 students, providing accessible and affordable educational opportunities and services -- including university transfer, technical and lifelong learning programs -- that promote individual development and improve the overall quality of life in a multicultural community. Of the 23 colleges in the Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga Community College, through Key Career Place, provides the only campus-based job search, professional development and career transition services available to the general public. Visit http://www.tri-c.edu for more information about Cuyahoga County College. Call 216-987-5858 or visit http://www.keycareerplace.info/ for more information about Key Career Place.

KeyCorp
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $92 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. Contact Key Foundation Senior Program Officer Quentin McCorvey at 216.689.5505, or Quentin_mccorvey@keybank.com, for more information about corporate grants. Visit the KeyCorp page on Corporate Social Responsibility Wire at http://www.csrwire.com/csr/company.mpl?company=993 for a compilation of news releases about the company relative to philanthropic investment, diversity, community development, corporate governance, environment, business ethics, human rights, and workplace issues.

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Note to Editors: For up-to-date company information, media contacts and facts and figures about Key lines of business, visit our Media Newsroom at Key.com/newsroom.

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KeyBank

KeyBank

KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $176.2 billion at March 31, 2021. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,100 branches and more than 1,400 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC. 

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