WARREN – For nearly a year, Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) has been taking part in a research-based, grant-funded project featuring 14 rural institutions of higher education across the United States called the Rural College Design and Data Academy. The organization conducting the project, called Education Design Lab, is based out of Washington D.C. and in 12 years has worked with over 1,200 colleges and organizations and over 1,000 employers to help in education programs and pathways development that better serve students for the future. These institutions, including NPRC, are learning and applying human-centered design processes to create offerings and pilots that address the unique needs of rural communities 

Education Design Lab and NPRC have been working side-by-side to unveil a group of initiatives focusing on how to better serve community members and students in our shared locations in Emporium and Kane. The goal of the venture is to create equitable and career-driven pathways to economic agility for rural learners. Ultimately, NPRC is hopeful to bring more relevant programming, community collaboration, and overall opportunities into these new spaces to advance the College’s mission of providing affordable and accessible education in NPRC’s 10-county service area. 

This fall, NPRC was welcomed to a shared space in Emporium in the new location for the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce & Artisan Center, at 24 West 4th Street. The College was also invited to join a shared space at Six and Kane in Kane, at 63 North Fraley Street on the second floor. Each of these spaces has been used over the last several months for community meetings, NPRC office hours, and by organizations needing a location to meet with clients. “These are all great uses of the space, but we really hope we can continue bringing more training and community enrichment courses in these spaces,” said NPRC Vice President of Workforce Development Adam Johnson, who has been a leader of this project. “We have an upcoming Public Safety Training Day in April taking place in Kane and an opportunity to host culinary courses in Emporium in the future. These offerings and hopefully many others will all be a part of the opportunities we launch soon.” 

Johnson has been a leader for the College in this endeavor and has been working alongside a team of professionals from NPRC that includes Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services Jennifer Cummings-Tutmaher, Assistant Director of Advising Carla Cummings, Director of Institutional Research Kelsey Kirkpatrick, and Vice President of Academics, Dr. Ben Malczyk. This group of professionals from the College has worked with the Education Design Lab to gather data from area residents to better understand what implementations could be best for NPRC and the region. “The beginning of the process was to identify an opportunity that existed in our rural area and connect with learners and the community to better serve them sustainably,” Johnson explained. “The significant part about working with the Education Design Lab is they assisted with research and there are grant dollars through this opportunity to help us try different solutions and programs. It ended up being timely as we were welcomed into our shared spaces in Emporium and Kane, so we focused there.” 

To help NPRC, the College accepted feedback and suggestions through online surveys late in the summer of 2024 on what community members from Cameron and McKean Counties would like to see in these two spaces. Feedback and suggestions from these surveys and from NPRC team members have been taken into consideration, with the team’s next objective being to create a set of initiatives on how to increase programming, events, and overall traffic into these two shared spaces.  

The grant-funded project will wrap up at the end of October. However, efforts to create new educational and community enrichment opportunities in communities through the NPRC service region will continue. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months as NPRC continues to work with the Education Design Lab in designing exciting educational and community enrichment opportunities for many. 

About NPRC: Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) is authorized by the PA Department of Education to award associate degrees and certificates in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. NPRC is an open-admission, two-year institution of higher education. The College’s mission is to provide affordable and accessible post-secondary education to the residents of northern Pennsylvania. NPRC brings affordable education to a 10-county region (Cameron, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Venango, and Warren). With flexible scheduling options at numerous instructional locations as well as remote attendance options, attending Northern Pennsylvania Regional College is an excellent option for individuals interested in furthering their education close to home or who need flexibility in their educational journey. With a growing team of high-quality industry-leading instructors directing our classrooms, students are empowered by a welcoming community to change their lives and brighten their futures. NPRC is a candidate for accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). https://regionalcollegepa.org.