7th Annual Jesse Jones Leadership Award

Since 2019 the Tarrant County College District Foundation, operating under a charge from Chancellor Giovaninni to make fundraising efforts that “eliminate barriers that stand in the way of student success” a priority, has cultivated donors and raised over $250,000 to create the first TCC emergency fund – the Eliminating Barriers Fund.

A large cross-functional team of TCC employees collaborated as the Eliminating Barriers to Student Success Team to create and operationalize the Eliminating Barriers Fund. Eliminating Barriers, implemented in fall 2019, is TCC’s first emergency grant program and tackles the critical challenge that poverty creates to student success and completion. Access to basic needs, including adequate funding to handle emergencies, directly impacts student success and a student’s ability to stay enrolled, learn, and make progress toward achieving their educational goals.

Research has demonstrated that enrollment, retention and completion are positively impacted when institutions are able to help students mitigate an emergency financial challenge. Quite often, having the money to pay an unexpected $200 car repair bill or a $300 emergency room visit can make the difference between staying enrolled or walking away from their education. The emergency fund allows TCC to help students address those emergencies and stay on their path to achieving their educational goals.

In the spring 2020 semester, and with the onset of COVID-19 related emergencies, the fund saw an over 600% spike in applications. Having this fund available in such an economically unstable time has meant the college has been able to retain many students who might have left otherwise.

The Eliminating Barriers to Student Success Team constantly reviews and improves the program to ensure students’ needs are being met and college processes further streamlined and optimized to continue this important endeavor. The Eliminating Barriers Team has helped TCC ensure students’ pool of resources increases. Most importantly, the Team has shown the student community TCC is willing to invest in them by putting our money where our heart is--- on our students!