Lawson State Community College

Lawson State Community College, a Historically Black College or University and state government educational institution headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, operates as a federal grant recipient focused on STEM education, student support services, and workforce development programming. The institution does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; all federal funding flows through grant programs administered by the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The college's federal portfolio centers on NSF and Department of Education grant work. Recent major awards include a $2 million National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education S-STEM (Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant awarded January 1, 2027, running through December 31, 2032, to fund scholarships for up to 75 students pursuing associate degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, industrial electronics technology, manufacturing technology, and mathematics, paired with multidimensional mentoring, peer networking, undergraduate research, and artificial intelligence micro-credentials. The college is also the recipient of a $1.932 million Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education Title III Part F Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program grant (CFDA 84.031) awarded October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, supporting institutional development and fiscal operations. An $827,967 TRIO Student Support Services award (CFDA 84.042) from the Department of Education, effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026, funds comprehensive student support services including tutoring, academic advising, career counseling, and financial literacy workshops for an estimated 100 to 300 students annually. A $500,000 National Science Foundation STEM Education program grant (CFDA 47.076) awarded October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2027, supports evidence-based practices such as service-learning, learning communities, undergraduate research, internships, and a summer bridge program, with local industry partnerships and pathways for two-year STEM students to transfer to four-year universities. The college also delivered the 2022 Girls Impact Summer STEM Camp, a $53,785 NASA Shared Services Center cooperative agreement focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education for secondary students.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward the Department of Education. The top five funding agencies account for 80% of awards by count, with the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education dominating at 27 awards, followed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center (4 awards, $531 thousand combined potential value), the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service (3 awards), the National Science Foundation (3 awards), and the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education (2 awards). Awards per year have contracted in recent years — seven awards in 2020 fell to two in 2024 and three in 2025 — with two awards reaching completion within the next twenty-four months. The college acts as grant recipient in 98% of its awards; it subcontracts on workforce development programming, serving as a sub-recipient under the American Association of Community Colleges on a Cyber ACCESS Appalachian workforce-development initiative (awarded March 20, 2025) and under the City of Birmingham on personnel and workforce training programs in manufacturing, construction, logistics, and diesel technologies (awarded January 17, 2025, providing 20 training sessions per year to 300 beneficiaries per year over five years).