{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sablan.house.gov/press-release/kilili-125k-agricultural-grant-nmc", "Kilili: $125K agricultural grant for NMC", "2017-12-14", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan announced today that Northern Marianas College received a federal grant of $124,827 to develop distance learning courses in food and agriculture science.\u00a0 \nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Distance Learning Grant will allow NMC to expand its online offerings to include courses in food and agricultural science.\u00a0 In the fall of 2018, NMC will begin offering these types of courses for the first time in its history.\n\u201cNMC continues to expand its reach to provide quality education to students in the Northern Marianas,\u201d\u00a0said Congressman Sablan.\u00a0 \u201cBy expanding online courses to food and agricultural sciences, NMC will be able to provide wider educational opportunities to its students and may spark interest in further career-related study in this area.\u201d\nAccording to NMC President Dr. Carmen Fernandez, \u201cBecause of the flexibility that online courses offer to students pursuing their college degree, Northern Marianas College has been working to grow the number of courses that can be accessed from home or from any other place with internet connectivity.\n\u201cWe are extremely grateful that the NIFA grant will allow the College to expand its online offerings to include food and agricultural science courses so that career and training opportunities in these areas can also grow,\u201d Fernandez said.\nThe online courses will be available to students on Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The two-year grant provides funding for course development, recruitment and hiring of instructors, staff training, and procurement of necessary supplies, including laboratory kits for every student who registers and enrolls in an online food and agricultural science course.\u00a0\nThe NMC grant is one of a series made to the Insular Areas to strengthen agricultural education.\u00a0 NIFA Executive Director Sonny Ramaswamy said that \u201c\u2026 these programs will help insular areas institutions meet their unique needs.\u00a0 NIFA Investments are helping to increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue food and agricultural science careers.\u201d\n\u201cI salute NMC on securing additional federal funding to further their educational mission and will diversify their course offerings to students,\u201d Congressman Sablan said.\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sablan.house.gov/press-release/kilili-125k-agricultural-grant-nmc"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7714037783443928, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}