Jim and Donna Brooks have worked with regional planning organizations for more than 20 years, and their support of GRCC’s Lakeshore Campus was an important extension of those efforts.
“It became clear to our community’s leadership that our education system needs to adapt to the digital age and that we were missing a key piece of education system: a full-service community college that provides certain types of skills training, at a very affordable cost, that were not being provided by other post- secondary organizations,” said Jim Brooks, who co-founded the West Michigan Strategic Alliance and the Holland-Zeeland Model Community Initiative.
The campus, which opened in 2021 in a former JCPenney at the Shops at Westshore Mall, consolidated the services and classes that GRCC offered at four Ottawa County sites. The Brooks Family Learning Commons, an area for students to socialize and study, was named in Jim and Donna Brooks’ honor.
The Lakeshore campus allows students to earn credits for degrees or to transfer to four-year institutions, or in-demand careers skills. The renovations have earned national recognition and architectural awards.
For the Brookses, the Lakeshore Campus represents what’s possible when a community works together.
“No one can do projects of this magnitude on their own,” Jim Brooks said. “It requires community collaboration and partnership to create the campus facility, develop the training programs, provide the teachers and staff as well as scholarship support for students whose families lack the financial means.
“Our family is happy to do our share. Our community is fortunate that others who have been blessed with success feel the same.”