March 4, 2025 • 10 mins
We explore the dynamic partnership between MATC and GMCF, focusing on workforce development and community engagement. Jim Jeanette shares insights into how local philanthropy creates a ripple effect that lifts everyone.
• Conversations around the role of philanthropy in education
• The impact of MATC and GMCF collaboration in workforce training
• Stories of individuals benefiting from local scholarships and support
• Emphasis on giving, regardless of the size of contributions
Your support matters! Reach out and find out how you can contribute to local initiatives that spark change.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
Jim Jeanette is our guest inthis segment of the GMCF
Community Hour.
Jim is president of MATC andthe chief executive officer.
(00:22):
Jim, it's always a greatpleasure to have you on the
radio, sir.
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I am great and getting better.
It's a new March.
There's all kinds of thingsthat are going on in March, and
March for us here at the GMCFmeans CFAs and we have our
annual meeting and we're goingto focus here in our discussion
today not so much about what youdo at MATC, because I think
that, a that's well documented.
(00:50):
B if you don't know the greatwork that's being done at MATC
and their recent successes, yougot to learn more because it's
surely a treasure in ourcommunity.
But we are thrilled that youare involved as MATC, as one of
our keynote sponsors of the CFAs, and you know that's a big
(01:12):
thing for us here and I think itshows that MATC has a vested
interest in the community.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, I sure hope so.
You know, the CommunityFoundation has been a tremendous
supporter of our efforts and inturn we want to support the
GMCF.
You know, when I was hired forthis job, I came up before I
(01:42):
actually was the president hiredfor this job.
I came up before I actually wasthe president.
Marla from the GMCF staff wasour board chair and hired me and
she asked if I could come upand go to the CFAs in the spring
of 2015.
I didn't start as presidentuntil July of that year, so I
came up and went to it and tosay I was blown away is an
(02:02):
understatement.
You know, it's like walkinginto the Academy Awards.
It was amazing.
But what's even more amazingthan the event itself is the
stories within the event of howGMC has helped so many people,
so many organizations, so manygroups, and how much buy-in
there is by the community ofManhattan and the surrounding
(02:23):
area.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And that's one of the things that I you know.
Every time I walk out of thereand I've got a big role in the
event, serving as master ofceremonies and being involved in
the production aspect as well Ialways learn something, and I
learn something that isremarkable.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know it is cool to see everybody that gets
honored and recognized.
That is tremendous.
But at the same time I think alot of the people there realize
I might not be recognized butI'm involved in some way and it
all makes a difference andthat's the cool thing.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It doesn't matter if you only get five bucks a year
to some cause of GMCF.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It helps.
So it's that old adage no giftis too big, no gift is too small
, just give.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
What does it mean to MATC, to be involved in
something like the CFAs and theGMCF overall?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, like I said, part of it, they support us.
From day one, vern and I hadconversations about what we were
trying to do here.
I have to laugh One of the manyconversations I've had with
Vern over the years.
He looked me in the eye and hesaid you're not dreaming big
enough.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I came back and told my staff that and they all
fainted.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Our success is due to a lot of things, but part of it
is due to the support from theGMCF, the groups who support
that organization in variousways various funds and how
they've helped us withscholarships, with the new
building, with helping raisemoney for our Wamego Center
investments we've been able tomake in people.
At the same time, many of ourstudents have benefited from the
(04:00):
different funds of GMCF fromthe Fairy Godmothers, the
breadbasket, other thingsbecause many of our students are
needy and we're able to showthem here's this resource.
Get in touch with these folks,see what they can do to help you
.
So there's a lot of reciprocalif you will support that we give
each other.
And it all involves how we turnout workforce for the community
(04:22):
, but the community supportingthis organization helps us make
those things happen.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You know, we've talked a lot about the child
care business initiative and thework that's going there, and
that's what you were referringto when you said this new
building.
What does it mean to you, aspresident of MATC, to be so
intricately involved in thiseffort?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's part of it.
I mean, it's workforce.
We saw with the impact of COVIDof people leaving the workforce
to take care of their kids.
At the same time, we found outhow hard it is to run a child
care center, or even in yourhome during a pandemic.
The pandemic just poured fuelon a lot of changes that were
going to happen.
Anyway, here come the youngladies with the idea for this
(05:13):
accelerator project, the supportfrom the chamber, gmcf, the
city, and they looked at us andsaid can you help?
Yeah, yeah, this is our role isto help with workforce.
I'm excited to tell you thismorning we signed an agreement,
or we're preparing to sign anagreement, with USC 383 so that
(05:34):
we can offer those earlychildhood education classes with
their students as part of dualcredit and concurrent enrollment
, which is a key to theworkforce, in addition to
mothers and others wanting tolearn how to run child care
operations.
The other new building, in myphrase, is our new Advanced
Technology Center, whichreceived significant support
through Vernon GMCF from severalfunds.
(05:54):
So again, our mission isworkforce education.
We keep the town running, youknow, hey, some people think
K-State and us are incompetition.
We're not.
Their mission is totallydifferent than ours.
You need both.
It's a good thing to haveK-State, it's a good thing to
have Manhattan Tech, but we'rethe folks we turn out, the folks
who fix your car, yourfurniture, your air conditioner,
(06:15):
your power, or the nurses inall the clinics giving you your
shots.
We're that part of theworkforce.
And so here comes the childcare need.
What can we do to help?
And that's our big thing.
I told my folks when I got here10 years ago, unless the topic
in conversation is illegal,immoral or unethical you know
those are all answers are no.
(06:36):
But if it's anything outside ofthat, the answer is let's talk,
let's see if we can figure outhow what you need fits into our
mission and what can we do.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
There are a lot of aspects about what MATC does,
you know, not just for youngpeople, and not even just young
people, anybody that's lookingto make a career change to
improve their economicstandpoint, their viability as a
member of the community.
I mean, I remember when I spoketo one of your commencement
(07:06):
ceremonies, there was just awide range of individuals there
with greater backgrounds or agreater span of backgrounds, and
it's just remarkable what across section of the community
that you have in your studentbody.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, it's you know.
And adding the adult ed programhere six years ago, which gives
us the chance to work with theadult ed students who dropped
out of high school, but alsoopen up the door for us to work
with people where English is nottheir native tongue, and we've
helped almost 1,200 people learnEnglish and workplace skills.
We've helped over about 200people get their GED.
(07:44):
The other night the Via Christihad their Deva, their
celebration to raise funds, andwe were there and they had three
student video testimonialsabout the help they received in
scholarships from Via Christi'sfoundation.
All three students were fromManhattan Tech.
Yeah, so we matter, we have alot of value People recognize us
(08:11):
more.
But it's always a value abouthow do we help each other, how
do we scratch each other's back.
So the help from the foundationwith the child care accelerator
, with our new building, withscholarships for our students,
for help through the WamegoFoundation with our Wamego
Center All of this is so we cankeep doing workforce education
(08:31):
to give people good jobs.
They're not only employees.
They become taxpayers andconsumers.
Very few of our students comeout with very much student debt.
They're pretty much debt-freeor pretty close.
Their consumer buying power ishuge and that's something I
stress to a lot of employers inthe city and the county.
(08:51):
My students stay in the area.
They're buying houses, trucks,cars, groceries.
We like more and more peoplepaying into the tax base and
that's one of our talents thatwe have at MATC.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If you were to share words of thought with other
businesses or individuals thatare considering supporting local
philanthropy through eventslike the CFAs or whatever the
case may be, what would yourmessage be?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Please try to support and donate in some way, because
it does help.
There's a ripple effect.
Bobby Kennedy Sr mentioned thatin a speech, I think, at KU
back in the 60s.
The ripple effect we do onegood thing, it has a ripple
(09:43):
effect to somebody else.
And that's something Iappreciate about our faculty and
staff is they realize that thethings we do change somebody's
lives.
But they get a better job andif I can get somebody to have a
good job as a nurse and theyhelp some patient with a
healthcare issue and thatperson's healthy so they can
take care of their kids and theycan push their kids to get a
good education, that rippleeffect is huge over the long run
(10:04):
with significance.
So any I think you know I'mlike Vern, bigger gift is better
, but any gift helps, anythinghelps.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Jim Jeanette is president and CEO of Manhattan
Area Technical College.
We're thrilled for the workthat you are doing in the
community and we're even morethrilled for the work you are
doing to help support the GMCFand also the CFAs, with MATC as
a keynote sponsor to the effort,and we'll look forward to
seeing you on the 24th of March.
(10:37):
Count on it.
All right, we'll be back withVern in just a couple of moments
.
We'll have some communityupdates and a preview of next
week's show here on the GMCFCommunity Hour.
We do this every Monday morningat 10 on NewsRadio KMAN.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
Jim Jeanette is our guest inthis segment of the GMCF
Community Hour.
Jim is president of MATC andthe chief executive officer.
(00:22):
Jim, it's always a greatpleasure to have you on the
radio, sir.
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I am great and getting better.
It's a new March.
There's all kinds of thingsthat are going on in March, and
March for us here at the GMCFmeans CFAs and we have our
annual meeting and we're goingto focus here in our discussion
today not so much about what youdo at MATC, because I think
that, a that's well documented.
(00:50):
B if you don't know the greatwork that's being done at MATC
and their recent successes, yougot to learn more because it's
surely a treasure in ourcommunity.
But we are thrilled that youare involved as MATC, as one of
our keynote sponsors of the CFAs, and you know that's a big
(01:12):
thing for us here and I think itshows that MATC has a vested
interest in the community.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, I sure hope so.
You know, the CommunityFoundation has been a tremendous
supporter of our efforts and inturn we want to support the
GMCF.
You know, when I was hired forthis job, I came up before I
(01:42):
actually was the president hiredfor this job.
I came up before I actually wasthe president.
Marla from the GMCF staff wasour board chair and hired me and
she asked if I could come upand go to the CFAs in the spring
of 2015.
I didn't start as presidentuntil July of that year, so I
came up and went to it and tosay I was blown away is an
(02:02):
understatement.
You know, it's like walkinginto the Academy Awards.
It was amazing.
But what's even more amazingthan the event itself is the
stories within the event of howGMC has helped so many people,
so many organizations, so manygroups, and how much buy-in
there is by the community ofManhattan and the surrounding
(02:23):
area.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And that's one of the things that I you know.
Every time I walk out of thereand I've got a big role in the
event, serving as master ofceremonies and being involved in
the production aspect as well Ialways learn something, and I
learn something that isremarkable.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know it is cool to see everybody that gets
honored and recognized.
That is tremendous.
But at the same time I think alot of the people there realize
I might not be recognized butI'm involved in some way and it
all makes a difference andthat's the cool thing.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It doesn't matter if you only get five bucks a year
to some cause of GMCF.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It helps.
So it's that old adage no giftis too big, no gift is too small
, just give.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
What does it mean to MATC, to be involved in
something like the CFAs and theGMCF overall?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, like I said, part of it, they support us.
From day one, vern and I hadconversations about what we were
trying to do here.
I have to laugh One of the manyconversations I've had with
Vern over the years.
He looked me in the eye and hesaid you're not dreaming big
enough.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I came back and told my staff that and they all
fainted.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Our success is due to a lot of things, but part of it
is due to the support from theGMCF, the groups who support
that organization in variousways various funds and how
they've helped us withscholarships, with the new
building, with helping raisemoney for our Wamego Center
investments we've been able tomake in people.
At the same time, many of ourstudents have benefited from the
(04:00):
different funds of GMCF fromthe Fairy Godmothers, the
breadbasket, other thingsbecause many of our students are
needy and we're able to showthem here's this resource.
Get in touch with these folks,see what they can do to help you
.
So there's a lot of reciprocalif you will support that we give
each other.
And it all involves how we turnout workforce for the community
(04:22):
, but the community supportingthis organization helps us make
those things happen.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You know, we've talked a lot about the child
care business initiative and thework that's going there, and
that's what you were referringto when you said this new
building.
What does it mean to you, aspresident of MATC, to be so
intricately involved in thiseffort?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's part of it.
I mean, it's workforce.
We saw with the impact of COVIDof people leaving the workforce
to take care of their kids.
At the same time, we found outhow hard it is to run a child
care center, or even in yourhome during a pandemic.
The pandemic just poured fuelon a lot of changes that were
going to happen.
Anyway, here come the youngladies with the idea for this
(05:13):
accelerator project, the supportfrom the chamber, gmcf, the
city, and they looked at us andsaid can you help?
Yeah, yeah, this is our role isto help with workforce.
I'm excited to tell you thismorning we signed an agreement,
or we're preparing to sign anagreement, with USC 383 so that
(05:34):
we can offer those earlychildhood education classes with
their students as part of dualcredit and concurrent enrollment
, which is a key to theworkforce, in addition to
mothers and others wanting tolearn how to run child care
operations.
The other new building, in myphrase, is our new Advanced
Technology Center, whichreceived significant support
through Vernon GMCF from severalfunds.
(05:54):
So again, our mission isworkforce education.
We keep the town running, youknow, hey, some people think
K-State and us are incompetition.
We're not.
Their mission is totallydifferent than ours.
You need both.
It's a good thing to haveK-State, it's a good thing to
have Manhattan Tech, but we'rethe folks we turn out, the folks
who fix your car, yourfurniture, your air conditioner,
(06:15):
your power, or the nurses inall the clinics giving you your
shots.
We're that part of theworkforce.
And so here comes the childcare need.
What can we do to help?
And that's our big thing.
I told my folks when I got here10 years ago, unless the topic
in conversation is illegal,immoral or unethical you know
those are all answers are no.
(06:36):
But if it's anything outside ofthat, the answer is let's talk,
let's see if we can figure outhow what you need fits into our
mission and what can we do.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
There are a lot of aspects about what MATC does,
you know, not just for youngpeople, and not even just young
people, anybody that's lookingto make a career change to
improve their economicstandpoint, their viability as a
member of the community.
I mean, I remember when I spoketo one of your commencement
(07:06):
ceremonies, there was just awide range of individuals there
with greater backgrounds or agreater span of backgrounds, and
it's just remarkable what across section of the community
that you have in your studentbody.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, it's you know.
And adding the adult ed programhere six years ago, which gives
us the chance to work with theadult ed students who dropped
out of high school, but alsoopen up the door for us to work
with people where English is nottheir native tongue, and we've
helped almost 1,200 people learnEnglish and workplace skills.
We've helped over about 200people get their GED.
(07:44):
The other night the Via Christihad their Deva, their
celebration to raise funds, andwe were there and they had three
student video testimonialsabout the help they received in
scholarships from Via Christi'sfoundation.
All three students were fromManhattan Tech.
Yeah, so we matter, we have alot of value People recognize us
(08:11):
more.
But it's always a value abouthow do we help each other, how
do we scratch each other's back.
So the help from the foundationwith the child care accelerator
, with our new building, withscholarships for our students,
for help through the WamegoFoundation with our Wamego
Center All of this is so we cankeep doing workforce education
(08:31):
to give people good jobs.
They're not only employees.
They become taxpayers andconsumers.
Very few of our students comeout with very much student debt.
They're pretty much debt-freeor pretty close.
Their consumer buying power ishuge and that's something I
stress to a lot of employers inthe city and the county.
(08:51):
My students stay in the area.
They're buying houses, trucks,cars, groceries.
We like more and more peoplepaying into the tax base and
that's one of our talents thatwe have at MATC.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If you were to share words of thought with other
businesses or individuals thatare considering supporting local
philanthropy through eventslike the CFAs or whatever the
case may be, what would yourmessage be?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Please try to support and donate in some way, because
it does help.
There's a ripple effect.
Bobby Kennedy Sr mentioned thatin a speech, I think, at KU
back in the 60s.
The ripple effect we do onegood thing, it has a ripple
(09:43):
effect to somebody else.
And that's something Iappreciate about our faculty and
staff is they realize that thethings we do change somebody's
lives.
But they get a better job andif I can get somebody to have a
good job as a nurse and theyhelp some patient with a
healthcare issue and thatperson's healthy so they can
take care of their kids and theycan push their kids to get a
good education, that rippleeffect is huge over the long run
(10:04):
with significance.
So any I think you know I'mlike Vern, bigger gift is better
, but any gift helps, anythinghelps.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Jim Jeanette is president and CEO of Manhattan
Area Technical College.
We're thrilled for the workthat you are doing in the
community and we're even morethrilled for the work you are
doing to help support the GMCFand also the CFAs, with MATC as
a keynote sponsor to the effort,and we'll look forward to
seeing you on the 24th of March.
(10:37):
Count on it.
All right, we'll be back withVern in just a couple of moments
.
We'll have some communityupdates and a preview of next
week's show here on the GMCFCommunity Hour.
We do this every Monday morningat 10 on NewsRadio KMAN.
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