PVCC Puma Press

The grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for Paradise Valley Community College Black Mountain campus signals a unique model for the development of a community project, said Bob Hermann, president of Foothills Community Foundation.

Open for fall semester since Aug. 10, the new campus shares the site at 60th Street and the Carefree Highway with FCF – Holland Community Center and Desert Foothills Family YMCA. The community center and YMCA joined in the grand opening ceremonies on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16 and 17, and welcomed neighbors and visitors for the first time Saturday.

Greg O’Brien, president and CEO of the Valley of the Sun YMCA; Paul Dale, Ph.D. and interim president of PVCC as well as Hermann, were surrounded and supported by their staffs and well-wishers as they each cut a section of ribbon. PVCC Faculty Jazz musicians entertained in the courtyard shared by the three buildings and community partners. Tours and demonstrations were offered in each facility with refreshments and door prizes for the public.

“Though planned with funds from the 2004 bond funds, the campus opened years earlier than the projected 2014 date because of the three-way partnership,” says Dale.

Enrollment for PVCC at the new site reached nearly 400 for credit courses and another 250 for non-credit courses this first semester. With six classrooms and ample computer and study areas, the current building has a capacity for 1,500 students, Dale says.

The MCCCD-owned site has 70,000 acres, offering plenty of room to grow and serve the communities nearby, says Dale.

Area residents of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Carefree and Cave Creek as well as unincorporated Maricopa County now have their first community center and college campus, says Joan Westlake of PVCC public relations.