Community Colleges as a Policy Priority and Funding Trend
Community Colleges as a Policy Priority and Funding Trend
November 2, 2010
Last month, Jill Biden hosted the White House Summit on Community Colleges. The event was designed to highlight the White House effort to boost the economy by increasing the number of people with college degrees. The Obama administration wants to boost the number of community college graduates in the United States by five million by 2020 and make sure that by 2020, America has the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. This new policy priority will likely have an impact on how federal funding is allocated and on funding priorities at foundations.
At the Summit on Community Colleges, three large initiatives were highlighted. President Obama described the Skills for America’s Future program, a public-private partnership that will make it easier to connect job-seeking students with businesses looking to hire. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation discussed its new initiative, Completion by Design, a $35 million, five-year competitive grant program to boost community college graduation rates. The Aspen Institute announced that it will offer the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, a $1 million annual award for outstanding community colleges.
As President Obama works toward his goal of increasing the number of community college graduates, funding opportunities, both federal and foundation, for two-year college programs will likely increase. Public broadcasting stations should begin thinking about how to access this funding and expand their work in education to community colleges. Many community colleges offer training programs to prepare students for specific careers. Stations that create training videos and have experience in workforce development may be particularly well-situated to access the funding opportunities that will arise from this trend. Because the funding will be directed toward community colleges, public media stations should begin forming relationships with local community colleges and discussing potential programmatic partnership opportunities.
