Thanks to Metallica, a good education is now within the hands of students at a 10 community colleges around the U.S. Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation has launched a major workforce education initiative that provides financial assistance to enhance career and technical education programs.

Ten colleges from across the country will receive $100,000 to support more than 1,000 students training to enter the American workforce. These students will then become the first Metallica Scholars. The band partnered with the American Association of Community Colleges where the Metallica Scholars awards were selected via a competitive application process.

“The All Within My Hands Foundation and Metallica are proud to announce this major new initiative,” said Dr. Edward Frank, executive director of AWMH. "While the foundation continues our support for the fight against hunger and emergency community aid, we are now expanding our mission to include support for career and technical education. The goal of our Metallica Scholars Initiative is to improve career opportunities for community college students in the trades. Equally, we hope to raise the awareness of the tremendous importance, value and impact of the education provided by our nation’s community college system. The foundation and the band are thrilled by the quality of proposals we received from these colleges, and are excited to do our part to help educate students so that they have the skills and training necessary to find meaningful and well-paying jobs in their communities.”

"We welcome Metallica as a partner in the career and technical education work of the nation’s community colleges,” adds Walter G. Bumphus, AACC’s president and CEO. “Colleges across the country provide pathways to well-paying jobs through programs, services and training that lead to in-demand skills, certificates and degrees for students. These programs are responsive to the needs of local businesses and provide a pipeline of qualified workers to local industry. It’s a win-win for our students and the local economy. For Metallica to see the benefit of these programs and invest in the communities that have supported them is a testament to the power of education and we are proud to do this work with them.”

Metallica's Lars Ulrich commented, "All of us in the band feel fortunate that music has provided us the opportunity to be successful doing something we are passionate about. We want to share our success with others so that they can find a job where they can do the same.”

The 10 community college locations to receive the financial support are:

Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, North Carolina

Clackamas Community College, Oregon City, Oregon

College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois

Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland

Gateway Technical College, Kenosha, Wisconsin

Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Lone Star College, The Woodlands, Texas

North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Spokane Community College, Spokane, Washington

Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology, Wichita, Kansas

To learn more about Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation, click here.