Hudson County Community College Expands Gateway to Innovation Program with Bank of America Charitable Foundation Grant

January 16, 2026

Investment supports experiential learning opportunities leading to non-credit, industry-recognized credentials.


January 16, 2026, Jersey City, NJ – Bank of America Charitable Foundation awarded the Hudson County Community College (HCCC) Foundation a $150,000 grant to expand the nationally acclaimed HCCC Gateway to Innovation (GTI) Program. The College will utilize the funding to create paid, work-based learning opportunities.

“We are profoundly grateful to Bank of America Charitable Foundation for this investment in our Gateway to Innovation program,” said HCCC President Dr. Christopher Reber. “The funding will help us develop and pilot the GTI Experiential Learning Opportunities Program as a scalable model. We will employ collaborations with business leaders, labor unions, workforce development partners, public agencies, and community organizations to create high-impact learning opportunities for our students and the people of Hudson County.”

Pictured here, the College’s GTI Career Panel of professionals who share insights on pathways, skills, and emerging trends.

Bank of America Charitable Foundation awarded Hudson County Community College (HCCC) a $150,000 grant to expand the acclaimed HCCC Gateway to Innovation (GTI) Program. Pictured here, the College’s GTI Career Panel of  professionals who share insights on pathways, skills, and emerging trends.

The College will build the Experiential Learning Opportunities Program with work-based, non-credit  learning — job shadowing, mentoring, internships, and feedback loops that boost career progression and improve access to sustained economic mobility. The funding will support a credential-based internship model engaging 50 students, and the hiring of a full-time Internship Coordinator. The College will support program participants’ transportation and childcare needs, digital inclusion, and wraparound services through the HCCC Hudson Helps Resource Center that includes food pantries, Career Closet, community agency support, mental health and wellness services, and more.

HCCC’s School of Continuing Education and Workforce Development initiated the groundbreaking GTI program in 2021 to address post-pandemic economic challenges of service industry workers by connecting them with opportunities in recession-resistant fields. GTI implements sector-based career pathway strategies and supports sustainable changes to provide equitable access to jobs paying family-sustaining wages. Thousands of HCCC students and community members have benefitted from the program and attained industry-recognized credentials in finance, health care, information technology, and logistics. GTI is a Bellwether College Consortium Workforce Development Award finalist, an honor that recognizes cutting-edge community college student success programs. The program also earned the League for Innovation in the Community College’s 2022-2023 Innovation of the Year Award.

“Bank of America is committed to lending, investing, and giving in order to build thriving communities by addressing issues fundamental to economic mobility,” the Bank of America Charitable Foundation wrote. “Providing support to organizations like the Hudson County Community College Foundation that are offering critical services and programs is just one of the ways we are helping improve the quality of life in the communities we serve.”