By DUANE M. ELLING The role of community colleges in meeting the country’s changing labor market and economic needs is attracting growing attention. Education and business leaders, as well as policy makers -- including President Barak Obama -- have highlighted the importance of the specialized education, job training and certification programs offered by the schools.
Dick Shaink is president of Mott Community College (MCC), a longtime Mott Foundation grantee located in the Foundation’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. He recently was reappointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm to serve on both the Michigan Higher Education Assistance Authority and the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority.
Shaink discussed the vital and evolving role played by community colleges, including MCC’s participation in the Foundation’s national “Breaking Through” demonstration, with Mott Communications Officer Duane Elling.
Dick Shaink is president of Mott Community College. |
DE: How are community colleges building opportunities for low-income, low-skilled adults? DS: When children lack access to quality educational opportunities -- a fact of life in many low-income communities -- as adults they are often unprepared for the rigor of a college-level curriculum. The remedial education components offered by many community colleges are helping these adult learners gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to not just complete, but excel in their studies at the community college level and beyond.
By offering fast-track curriculums and certificates that reflect the needs of local industries, community colleges provide these students with the credentials to gain meaningful and more immediate employment. And MCC’s participation in the Breaking Through initiative has helped us make great strides in linking education and training with services that help students who might otherwise struggle to stay the college course.
DE: In 2007, MCC joined the national Breaking Through demonstration. Could you tell us more about this project and its local impact? DS: The model is about helping community colleges access the resources, knowledge and partnerships -- both at the state and national levels -- that lead to effective strategies for helping low-income adult learners succeed.
For example, MCC’s participation in the national Breaking Through demonstration has helped us design programs within “career pathways,” integrating education and work experience with key support services, such as help with tuition and books, and access to affordable child care and transportation. This has given us an entirely new framework for keeping struggling adult students engaged in their education and employment.
The Michigan Breaking Through initiative has helped us bring that approach to our curriculums in manufacturing, business management, health care and human services, and we plan to expand it to other areas of study.
Community colleges play an increasingly vital role in helping adult learners gain skills, knowledge and the confidence to succeed. |
The benefits for the Flint community include a growing pool of credentialed workers who possess both the skills for doing the needed work and the solid work habits that make them an asset to local employers. So far, 100 students have enrolled in the program and 51 have successfully earned their certifications.
Breaking Through has also made it possible for us to respond to new job training opportunities in such growth industries as “green” construction and hybrid engine technology.
DE: From your perspective, what are some of the unique contributions of community colleges to the country’s educational system? DS: Those of us who work in and attend community colleges often talk about affordable tuition, open admission policies, flexible course schedules and convenient locations as what sets us apart. But our schools also have the ability to address the needs of older working adults and those who need remedial and part-time education. Our “nimbleness,” if you will, makes us uniquely suited for quickly creating high quality, tailored training programs that respond to the changing needs of businesses, industry and government.
DE: Where do community colleges go from here? DS: I’ve been working in the field for over 30 years and I think it’s fair to say that the schools have become critical partners in the country’s workforce and economic development. Even in this difficult economic time, we’re sitting down with existing businesses to help them upgrade the skills of their workforce to stay competitive. And through various industry and community college consortiums, we’re designing training programs that will address new and emerging occupations. This ability to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of students and industries will remain one of our strongest assets.
The country’s growing awareness of these capabilities makes this a truly exciting time for community colleges and we have to do our very best to deliver.
Breaking Through Demonstration
Creating strategies to help underserved students succeed in college-level work is the focus of the Breaking Through Demonstration. This multiyear, national demonstration was launched in 2005 by the Boston-based Jobs For the Future (JFF) and the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE). Thirty-one schools in 18 states, including Mott Community College (MCC) in the Mott Foundation’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, are participating in the demonstration.
MCC also is leading Michigan’s Breaking Through demonstration, started in 2007 with Mott funding to share the model with other colleges in the state. It is one of three new Mott-funded demonstrations launched by JFF and NCWE to further strengthen and expand the model’s approach to growing educational and career opportunities for low-income, low-skilled adults.
The Mott Foundation has made a total of $5.8 million in grants since 2004 to support the national demonstration. More information about each, as well as other Mott-supported projects linking community colleges and workforce development strategies, is available in the Fall/Winter 2008/2009 issue of Mott Mosaic. |