Manatee and Sarasota colleges collaborate and receive money, business opportunities from area foundations

Bradenton Herald, January 5, 2016
SARASOTA — A local collaboration between the area’s colleges and universities is receiving a boost from the area’s community foundations, officials announced Tuesday.
The two-year-old Consortium of Colleges on the Creative Coast includes New College of Florida, Ringling College of Art and Design, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. It also includes Florida State University at the Ringling and Eckerd College in Lakewood Ranch. The collaboration, called C4, allows the schools to pool their resources to better help approximately 20,000 students enrolled at the four institutions. Initiatives include allowing students to take courses at the other schools and the colleges shared the cost of emergency management training this summer.