(Mauren Kennedy)
Philander Smith College in Little Rock will receive a $2.5 million CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to develop the HBCU Center of Excellence in Digital Education and Rural Workforce Development.
The grant, awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, will be matched by $638,420 in local dollars, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The project is expected to create 65 jobs and generate $400,000 in private investment, it said.
Philander Smith President Roderick Smothers told Arkansas Business late Tuesday that this grant will give the college the capacity to do three things: help the community recover from COVID-19 by providing people with the upgraded skills they need to work or go back to work, reach rural communities, and prepare its students for the future.