By: Lee McQueen—Retired, University of Nebraska at Kearney, and CAPPA Historian
CAPPA volunteers have worked diligently through the decades to make continuing education opportunities available across the region. But developing and offering the material is not enough. Paraphrasing from the movie Field of Dreams, “if you offer it, they will come” … when funding is available.
It is difficult for most facilities groups to develop a robust training budget. It is not uncommon that mid-year higher education budget reviews result in budget reductions. When this occurs, facilities training budgets are frequently impacted. The travel component of training budgets is often the target to meet new budget goals, seen as “low hanging fruit.” As communications have become less expensive (first, unlimited telephone access; then, unlimited video conferencing), the perceived benefit of face-to-face training has decreased, which can result in further budget reductions.
These budget impacts have made alternate funding sources important for facility managers in order to offer their staff reliable access to continuing education.
CAPPA long ago recognized this need, and that it impacted schools both big and small. CAPPA has made scholarships available to help improve access to available continuing education resources. CAPPA currently allocates about 50% of its general budget, about $46,000 per year for scholarships, to encourage continued staff development across the region. The Professional Development Committee is responsible for this budget. They work to assure an alignment of these funds between their use, and the programs desired by the membership.
As continuing education delivery evolved through the years, so have scholarships. Initial scholarships were intended to fund registration to off-site training/conferences, or related travel costs, or both, in order to access the “sage on a stage.” Scholarships still provide this access.
CAPPA scholarships have been used to support strategic educational initiatives. Examples are the use of these scholarships to participate in Supervisor’s Toolkit within the region, led by CAPPA trainers. Many have traveled outside the CAPPA region to participate in APPA University, taking advantage of courses in the Institute for Facilities Management, or in APPA’s Leadership Academy. Very recently, scholarship opportunities had also expanded to be made available for an APPA T3 series; creating potential future scholarship opportunities for the series as it continues.
Today these scholarships also fund access to internet opportunities, whether via live webinars or user-paced education sessions. One example is APPA’s Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP) certification program. From the APPA website, this certification is described as “the only facilities credential that focuses on your professional development, while encompassing the full, multi-disciplinary range of educational facilities management principles and practices – from planning, design and construction to daily operations and general management.” CAPPA and APPA have partnered to significantly reduce the delivery cost of this on-line training.
For more information on how CAPPA’s Professional Development Committee can help you reach your professional goals please visit us at https://cappaedu.com/membership/professional-development/continuing-education-grants/, or email the committee at: cappaedupd@cappaedu.com.