June 29, 2009 | LaGuardia Community College
June 29, 2009 –LaGuardia Community College is one of twenty new community colleges in seven states selected to join Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed. With the addition of these colleges, the initiative has grown to include 102 institutions – 98 colleges and four universities — in 22 states. Each new college has made a two-year commitment to focus its efforts on closing performance gaps among students in targeted populations.
Achieving the Dream is a long-term national initiative designed to help participating colleges implement strategies that enable more students earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to other institutions to continue their studies — particularly students of color and low-income students who traditionally face the most significant barriers to success. The initiative is built on the belief that broad institutional change, informed by student achievement data, is critical to significantly improving student success rates.
“LaGuardia has been a center for innovation in researching and implementing programs to help our students succeed,” said Dr. Gail O. Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College. “Now that we’ve joined Achieving the Dream we can share with other colleges our successful strategies and learn from our colleagues throughout the nation about how their creative approaches help students reach their educational goals.”
Achieving the Dream emphasizes building a culture of evidence, in which colleges use data to identify effective practices, improve student success rates and close achievement gaps.
“Achieving the Dream colleges are identifying methods for increasing student success and implementing interventions to create institutional improvements for all students,” said Carol Lincoln, a Senior Program Director at MDC, Inc., the managing partner of Achieving the Dream and its national director. “We’re excited about bringing these new colleges into Achieving the Dream and continuing our tradition of providing educational and societal benefits to colleges, students and communities around the country.”
This most recent expansion of Achieving the Dream was funded with grants from four foundations across the country, and in some cases, the colleges themselves are funding their participation in the initiative. Lumina Foundation for Education is making matching grants to provide first-year funding for community colleges in California, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Vermont; The Kresge Foundation is supporting an institution in Michigan; The Greater Texas Foundation is supporting several community colleges in Texas; and The Vermont Community Foundation is providing grant support in Vermont.
“Achieving the Dream colleges have proven successful at ensuring that a student success agenda is a clear strategic focus at all levels of the campus community,” said Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education, which has been the initiative’s primary funder since its inception in 2004. “We’re very pleased to help provide this opportunity to additional colleges and, more importantly, to the students they serve.”
Incoming Achieving the Dream Community Colleges
The following community colleges have joined the initiative:
CALIFORNIA
College of the Sequoias, Visalia
San Jose/Evergreen Community College District
• San Jose City College, San Jose
• Evergreen Valley College, San Jose
ILLINOIS
Danville Area Community College, Danville
Elgin Community College, Elgin
Morton College, Cicero
Triton College, River Grove
Harper Community College, Palatine
INDIANA
Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana
KANSAS
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park
MARYLAND
The Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore
MICHIGAN
Macomb Community College, Warren
NEW YORK
LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City
SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville Technical College, Greenville
TEXAS
Austin Community College District, Austin
Blinn College, Brenham
Odessa College, Odessa
Richland College, Dallas
Temple College, Temple
VERMONT
Community College of Vermont, Waterbury
About LaGuardia Community College
Located in Long Island City, Queens in New York City, LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York, is a nationally recognized leader among community colleges. Founded in 1971, the College has been recognized as an innovator in educating students who are under prepared for college work and/or are not primary English speakers. A catalyst for development in western Queens and beyond, LaGuardia serves New Yorkers and immigrants from 160 countries through over 50 majors and certificate programs, enabling career advancement and transfer to four-year colleges at twice the national average. Visit www.laguardia.edu to learn more.
About Achieving the Dream
Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a national initiative to help more community college students succeed, particularly students of color and low-income students. The initiative works on multiple fronts — including efforts on campuses and in research, public engagement and public policy — and emphasizes the use of data to drive change. Achieving the Dream was launched in 2004, with funding provided by Lumina Foundation for Education. Seven national partner organizations work with Lumina to guide the initiative and provide technical and other support to the colleges and states. They are: the American Association of Community Colleges; the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas-Austin; the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University; Jobs for the Future; MDC Inc.; MDRC; and Public Agenda. MDC is the initiative’s managing partner.
###