August 20, 2026

Forsyth Technical Community College has received a Capacity-Building Grant from the Educating Character Initiative, a project of The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The Educating Character Initiative is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.

The grant will support Forsyth Tech’s project, The Trailblazers Way: Connect at the Core, led by Julian Jackson and Tony McKinnon. The initiative is one of 60 Capacity-Building Grants awarded in 2026, part of a national cohort impacting 68 institutions of higher education committed to advancing character education on their campuses.

The Educating Character Initiative (ECI) is catalyzing a national movement focused on character in higher education. Through grantmaking, collective learning, and community engagement, the ECI equips institutions of higher education with the funding, resources, and support necessary to integrate character into their distinctive institutional contexts, curricula, and cultures. The ECI’s broad aspiration is to enable institutions of higher education to become communities of character that form students, staff, and faculty who act with character for the common good.

“This grant gives us the room to be intentional about character, something we already believe in at Forsyth Tech,” said Julian Jackson, Student and Employee Advocacy Coordinator at Forsyth Tech..” We want every Forsyth Tech student to graduate not only career-ready, but also as a leader of character, prepared to make a positive impact in the workplace, the community, and beyond.”

Forsyth Technical Community College joins a cohort of institutions nationwide — including community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and research universities — in receiving this year’s Capacity-Building Grants.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wake Forest University or Lilly Endowment Inc.