The Illinois Community Board has awarded $766,000 to 12 Illinois Community Colleges to help implement virtual reality equipment into existing Career and Technical Education programs throughout the state.
Overall, the funding will allow recipients colleges to purchase VR hardware and software to recruit and instruct students in a variety of workforce training programs for industries including but not limited to healthcare, criminal justice, manufacturing, and HVAC.
The two-year grant program was passed by General Assembly and signed by Governor Pritzker in FY24. Individual grant amounts were awarded based on college program and equipment needs.
Two of the twelve schools award this grant include colleges from the Southern Illinois region John A. Logan College, and Rend Lake College.
Grant funding can be used to purchase VR hardware & software to expand or enhance current Career & Technical Education students recruiting practices using VR technology or start a new CTE program to include VR technology.
