For the last four years, Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) has been keenly focused on improvements to the College’s infrastructure. In alignment with CNCC’s strategic priority to improve sustainability, our goal has been to ensure our students, staff and faculty have the tools, facilities and safe environment needed to be successful. CNCC has been fortunate to see steady student enrollment while receiving strong support from the Rangely Junior College District (RJCD) and the CNCC Foundation. Despite these assets, CNCC leadership realized that the college could not keep pace with the need to improve our vintage 1960s buildings, IT infrastructure, and our classroom instructional technology. In short, the College needed to find state capital project support and/or grants to meet the College’s upgrade and updating needs.
Since FY2019, the College has actively pursued grants that would help with updates but could not afford the large financial matches due to lean College reserves. Even with this challenge, we have been very successful in obtaining more than $10 million in state capital and grant funds. The following is an update on CNCC’s active projects:
Several community members have commented on the construction activity on the Rangely Campus. It is true! We have three crews working on the Rangely Campus right now. CNCC is making solid progress towards finalization of the following projects:
– Blakeslee/Allsebrook Roof ($824K) – Replaces roof on the Blakeslee and Allsebrook buildings. Project will be complete by end of July.
– Access Control ($511K) – Safety and Security improvement which provides new door control access and security cameras across campus. Closeout in July.
– IT Infrastructure Project ($1.9 Million) – Builds new fiber ring, installs new high speed cabling to labs/classrooms/desktops, reconfigured IT service room with new servers and switches. In process for an August close.
– Rural College Consortium IT ($822K) – New student lab computers, new AV equipment for classrooms providing ability to deliver Hybrid course instruction in person, at other CNCC locations and partner high schools simultaneously.
More work crews are about to arrive, upcoming projects include:
– Johnson Electrical Upgrade ($1.2 Million) – Project begins in earnest on July 10. This project will upgrade the electrical systems in the Johnson Building and provide an electrical generator for emergency power outages.
– Exterior Lighting Upgrade ($92K) – Commences on July 10. This project is intended to increase the safety and security of the Rangely Campus by increasing the number and brightness of exterior lighting. This will also be more energy efficient lighting.
– Parking Lot Reconfiguration ($787K) – This project will overlay and re-slope CNCC main parking lots to ensure ADA compliance. Project will begin in August. We will be working with student services to share changes to traffic flows during this project.
With the FY24 State of Colorado Budget, CNCC was approved for approximately $1.8 million in capital controlled maintenance projects.
– Hefley Building Roof Replacement ($1,152,188.00) – Approved for expenditure beginning in FY24.
– Replace Chilled Systems, Repair Cooling Tower (Rangely- $620,032.00) – Approved for expenditure beginning in FY24.
CNCC is making huge strides to upgrade College infrastructure by improving our buildings, IT resources and classroom instructional technology which our students need and expect. Looking forward, CNCC’s capital requests are optimally positioned to provide significant renovations for our dormitories and academic buildings in the next 2-3 fiscal years. While by no means a sealed deal, CNCC now has $6.2 million in federal and state requests slotted for renovation of the following Rangely Campus projects:
– Ross Dorms Renovations – Congressionally Directed Spending Request: CNCC is a finalist for this $2.6 million project. Senator Hickenlooper’s Regional Director to visit CNCC Campus on June 29, 2023. These improvements will support our income challenged students who need modern and safe housing while going to college. We will keep you in the loop!
– Capital Renewal Project – CNCC has also applied for $3.6 million State of Colorado capital dollars to improve or replace siding, insulation, and windows on several Rangely Campus buildings. We are pleased to share that last week the State Board of Community Colleges and Occupational Education recommended CNCC’s project to move forward for FY25 budget inclusion and assigned it our system’s #1 priority. We will keep you in the loop!
Building on this progress, College leadership will press forward with our strategy to improve sustainable campus resources while pivoting towards campus renovations. With financial assistance from our RJCD Board, CNCC recently completed a Facilities Master Plan for the Rangely Campus. This information will help CNCC to apply for additional capital and grant projects to repair and renovate campus buildings.
Strategically, CNCC will continue to thrive as we improve College infrastructure providing safe/functional buildings, improved IT infrastructure and new classroom instructional technologies. This strategy plus the $10 million in capital allocations has built a strong foundation upon which CNCC will forge a first class learning environment that will benefit CNCC students for years to come.
CNCC’s future is bright. Our sustainability strategy for facilities and infrastructure is working. Soon, we hope to renovate and beautify our campus. This is our legacy and our commitment to CNCC students and our community. We are thankful for the ongoing support and advice provided by the Rangely Junior College District, the CNCC Foundation and the CNCC Advisory Board. Together we have made significant strides and together we will achieve Colorado Northwestern Community College’s mission to “enhance people’s lives by providing an accessible, affordable, quality education.”
By Dr. Lisa Jones
CNCC President
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