March 2016-Present
Located in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, Northeastern Technical College (NETC) serves a rural region that consists of Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Dillon counties. NETC’s economically distressed three-county service area has been traditionally challenged by high poverty and unemployment, as well as low educational attainment. In 2016, NETC President, Dr. Kyle Wagner, attended a session at the Rural Community College Alliance Conference where New Growth Group Principal, Chris Spence, presented the topic “Building Grant Capacity at an Institution with No Grant Department”. From that conference, a partnership was created between Northeastern Technical College and the New Growth Group.
Following a period of grant writing success, NETC entered into a five-year contractual agreement with the New Growth Group to serve as an integrated Grants Office for the college. In this capacity, New Growth is an integrated part of the NETC leadership team by working to manage the entire grant lifecycle including project ideation, application development and submission, post-award reporting and compliance, and continuous improvement. Importantly, New Growth is leading a process to establish in-house staff positions, grant lifecycle processes, and campus-wide training to ensure Northeastern Technical College builds a sustainable internal capacity.
In total, New Growth has worked with NETC to secure and manage over $10,000,000 in federal and state grant funding. Throughout partnerships like this one, Northeastern Technical College’s enrollment has increased from 800 students annually to over 2,100 students in the 2019-2020 academic year. New Growth has also worked collaboratively with the college to establish internal processes; including a Grants Manual, which provides training and information for college staff regarding the aspects of grant lifecycles.
