By Kaitlin Durbin
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County is giving College Now Greater Cleveland $25,000 to create a new scholarship program aimed at boosting the pipeline of workers in public safety and justice careers.
The money will support about 10 scholarships up to $2,500 for high school students pursuing training in fields such as police, fire and emergency medical services, county officials told the Board of Control on Monday. The board approves county spending less than $750,000.
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The new scholarships are intended to support low-income students who are also eligible for federal Pell Grants and may not otherwise be able to afford the cost of training programs.
“The goal of providing modest scholarships is to remove barriers and allow students to move into training programs and come out into well-paid public service professions that are in high demand,” Jill Smialek, deputy director of the county’s Department of Public Safety and Justice Services said in written responses to questions ahead of the meeting.
The scholarships are only available to high school students who are already working with College Now advisors at their schools, according to spokeswoman Alison Bibb-Carson. That includes all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, she said, as well as high schools across the county. You can find a full list here.
A few students have already applied for the scholarship this year, Bibb-Carson said, noting the application deadline has passed. But she hoped more students apply in the future, until all of the funding is distributed.
To be eligible, students must have at least a 2.5 GPA, a minimum ACT score of 18 OR combined verbal and math SAT score of 960, and complete a 500-word essay on their chosen career.
The scholarships are part of a broader county initiative to expand the pool of applicants entering public safety careers, Smialek explained. It’s the final phase of a three-part Career Development Initiative that began in 2024, she said.
The first phase created a centralized website highlighting public safety career paths, while the second included a large career exploration event held in 2025 at Polaris Educational Campus. That event drew more than 100 students from districts across the region and featured representatives from 29 public safety and justice agencies.
Now, the scholarships are intended to help students who were interested in public safety careers pursue the required training. County spokeswoman Jennifer Ciaccia called the effort “critical” as many public safety agencies face challenges with recruitment and retention.
“By reducing the cost barrier, we are uplifting those who feel called to serve and strengthening the overall safety of our neighborhoods and communities,” she said.
Some County Council members who sit on the Board of Control questioned whether the county should prioritize restoring funding to College Now’s main scholarship program, instead of creating a new one, particularly as officials grapple with budget pressures. Council this year cut $100,000 in scholarship funding and plans to cut another $100,000 next year.
But Smialek said the program has been planned since 2024 to specifically focus on public safety careers, rather than all of the other careers their main program supports. The funding will come out of the Public Safety and Justice Services budget, she said.
The discussion came minutes after the Board approved $18,280 to provide food for Cuyahoga County corrections staff each day of National Correctional Officers Week, which runs May 3-9 . The special week will feature games and a daily treat, including a breakfast bar, polish boys and fries, a baked potato bar, subs and an ice cream bar.
Council members on the board again questioned the expense, but Chris Costin with the sheriff department’s fiscal team defended the money as a small gesture to honor those working a difficult job – and to maybe keep some of them on longer.
“It’s very hard to keep (corrections officers) in the jail,” Costin said. “We have high turnover.”
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