About Us

Community Colleges CAN! is funded by the United States Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education. This two-year initiative is aimed at building sustainable networks among colleges to help them identify, learn from, and implement strategies that improve student outcomes.

Community colleges help individuals with diverse skills, needs, and goals to prepare for the workforce and further postsecondary education by improving access to college, and by helping students succeed. In recent years, many institutions are finding innovative ways to be more effective, such as creating partnerships with K-12 school systems and four-year institutions (K-16). Community Colleges CAN! will contribute to such efforts by showcasing effective programs that seek to improve student success and by analyzing the factors that have contributed to their effectiveness. The initiative will also encourage partnering among college practitioners to build networks for sharing knowledge and developing more effective programs.

Community Colleges CAN! has three core objectives:

• To share the stories of innovative community college programs that offer promise for improving academic preparation, participation, and success of students. Programs in a variety of areas will be spotlighted and explored, including those involved with building academic and career pathways, providing academic and student support services, and implementing innovative programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as developmental education.
  
  
• To disseminate useful and timely information about community college programs and practices. Issues of importance to practitioners and policymakers concerned with closing the achievement gap and improving the provision of educational services at community colleges will also be profiled. This information will be provided on the Community Colleges CAN! web site through podcasts, webinars and e-newsletters.
  
  
• To build partnerships among community college practitioners across the nation to encourage the creative exchange of ideas and information and support program replication. The initiative will facilitate the development of learning networks to strengthen the efforts of community colleges to help students overcome barriers to success.

For more information on Community Colleges CAN!, contact Dr. William Munn at JBL Associates, Inc. cccan@jblassoc.com.