The ability to think bigger and act urgently to address systemic inequities at both institutional and community levels is central to community colleges creating more economically vibrant communities.
It starts with colleges seeing and understanding local communities in new ways, improving access to connect and reconnect populations, and tracking the right institutional metrics to ensure progress and success for all student groups. This can collectively lead to upward mobility for individuals and their families and help communities flourish and thrive economically.
Through its Community Vibrancy Cohort, ATD is helping institutions build their capacity to enact change at this level. In 2023, with support from Ascendium Education Group and Crimsonbridge Foundation, ATD selected a cohort of 16 Network colleges to test new tools and training materials to help them understand local communities in new ways that will lead to upward mobility for individuals and their families and help communities flourish and thrive economically. By using these tools and materials, the colleges aim to collect data to help them assess market potential among opportunity populations, track the right institutional metrics, and monitor both workforce outcomes and community vibrancy metrics.
Projected results include:
- Enhanced understanding about the importance of workforce outcomes and economic/social mobility
- Enhanced knowledge about the impact of and importance for creating equitable and economically vibrant communities
- Increased use of next-generation metrics to inform planning and strategic action
- A suite of useful tools and resources for all ATD Network colleges (which are carefully vetted via this project)
The inaugural cohort of ATD Network colleges selected to pilot this work are:
Testimonials
“I am convinced that we will all look back one day and realize that it was this work that energized us all to move past the very important goals of access and completion . . . to the heart of why students seek access and completion: to make their lives better, to make their families lives better and [to achieve] the resulting positive impact on their communities.”
-President of a Community Vibrancy cohort college
Related Services
Build a student-centered, evidence-based campus culture with ATD’s intensive three-year experience
- Partnerships with two expert coaches
- Strengths and opportunities analysis
- Support for a customized action plan
Increase institutional capacity for data-informed decision making.
- High-impact, evidence-based data strate
- Interactive, applications-oriented focus