Overview
Transforming Community College Education Through the Humanities is a three-year, cohort-based pilot initiative supporting five community colleges in strengthening the role of the humanities as a core component of student learning and institutional impact. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the initiative provides financial support, expert coaching, and a structured learning community through which colleges’ cross-functional teams develop and implement humanities-focused action plans tailored to their institutional and community context. Through this work, colleges can redesign humanities courses, align them with academic and career pathways, integrate humanities education more intentionally into institutional planning and teaching and learning strategies, or deepen partnerships with local employers and cultural organizations.
As part of this work, Achieving the Dream will document and share lessons learned, promising practices, and tools that help colleges articulate the value of humanities education for student success, workforce preparation, and community well-being.
Applications are due Feb. 16, 2026.
Learn more and applyWhy It Matters
Community colleges play a vital role as anchor institutions that support social, economic, and cultural vitality in their communities. Yet humanities disciplines at many colleges face persistent challenges, including limited resources, declining enrollments, and misalignment with transfer and workforce pathways. These challenges can obscure the essential role the humanities play in developing critical thinking, communication, creativity, cultural awareness, and social engagement — skills that are increasingly valued by employers and communities alike.
At a time when technological change and workforce disruption are accelerating, humanities education offers students opportunities to make meaning of complex issues, engage across differences, and apply human-centered skills in a wide range of careers. Embedding the humanities more fully into institutional practice enables colleges to strengthen teaching and learning, support student success, and reinforce their broader mission to serve as engines of civic participation and community development.
This initiative responds to the growing need for intentional, institution-wide strategies that position the humanities not as peripheral but as foundational to student success and community impact.
Goals and Outcomes
Through Transforming Community College Education Through the Humanities, participating colleges will:
- Strengthen humanities education through curriculum redesign, program development, and culturally relevant teaching practices aligned with student pathways.
- Build institutional capacity by developing and implementing humanities-focused action plans supported by leadership engagement and strategic alignment.
- Increase student engagement and success by expanding work-based learning and other experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, connected to local cultural, civic, and workforce contexts.
- Enhance faculty development through humanities-centered communities of practice, seminars, and peer learning opportunities.
- Document and share effective practices, tools, and insights to inform broader reform across the ATD Network and the community college field.
Interested in applying? Learn more about this opportunity to apply for this grant-funded opportunity during a one-hour information webinar and Q and A on Jan. 22, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Register for the webinar
Thinking & Advocacy