News & Updates
Teams from nine new community colleges — including a consortium of four State University of New York (SUNY) institutions — will gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, from June 25 to 27, for Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) 2025 Kickoff Institute — a signature event that marks the beginning of their transformative partnership with ATD.
Designed to orient incoming colleges to the ATD Network, the Kickoff Institute serves as the starting point for the Foundations of Transformation, the intensive three-year engagement that begins the Network experience. Kickoff supports institutions in building the capacity for whole-community transformation. Over the course of two and a half days, college teams will engage in deep learning and connection, laying the groundwork for the first year of their ATD journey. This includes meeting their coaches, beginning foundational capacity-building work, discovering evidence-based practices, exploring data for action planning, and forming peer cohorts that will support one another throughout their engagement.
“ATD is excited to welcome nine new colleges across six states into its Network,” said Dr. Melinda Anderson, ATD’s executive director for network engagement. “These colleges will connect throughout their Foundations of Transformation experience to build upon their student success efforts while addressing critical issues, such as advancing a bold access agenda, advising redesign, and ensuring program relevancy, all while centering faculty and student voice and their experiences.”
This year’s Kickoff will introduce the colleges to ATD’s Community Vibrancy Framework, which encourages institutions to examine student success from both the inside-out and the outside-in — looking internally to improve structures and supports for students, while simultaneously aligning programs with regional labor market needs, community priorities, and pathways to economic mobility.
Colleges will also explore ATD’s updated Institutional Capacity Framework, which outlines the core capacities needed to drive meaningful outcomes at scale. The refined framework maintains a student-centered focus while emphasizing the college’s role as a catalyst for community vibrancy.
Stay tuned — we will check in with the new cohort in the coming months to learn about their Kickoff experience and the work they are undertaking. For now, here is a glimpse of what each college hopes to accomplish during their first three years in the ATD Network.
North Country Community College (New York)
North Country Community College is joining the ATD Network to expand its capacity for using data — particularly disaggregated data — to identify and support students with the greatest need. With a focus on pinpointing barriers to student success and strengthening institutional operations, the college sees this partnership as a key opportunity to accelerate transformation and to infuse its efforts with new energy and ideas.
Ocean County College (New Jersey)
Ocean County College seeks to build a more data-informed culture to improve student outcomes and guide institutional priorities. While the college’s Institutional Planning, Effectiveness, and Compliance office produces robust data used in areas like retention, Career and Technical Education program evaluation, and student support services, a key goal is to ensure that this data is fully understood, shared, and used across the college. The college aims to move from anecdotal decision-making to institution-wide strategies grounded in evidence, engaging more stakeholders in driving academic success in gateway courses and enhancing sense of belonging, among other student success achievements.
Rappahannock Community College (Virginia)
Rappahannock Community College is committed to advancing success for all students through data-informed strategies. By joining the ATD Network, the college seeks to strengthen its ability to identify barriers to completion, build capacity for sustainable change, and foster a culture of excellence in teaching and learning. This work will complement ongoing efforts related to a new strategic plan, a Title III grant, and the leadership of an Aspen Fellow president to support student achievement and institutional transformation.
Roxbury Community College (Massachusetts)
Roxbury Community College is joining the ATD Network to strengthen student success efforts and advance a new strategic plan. As the college builds momentum under a relatively new leadership team, it is focused on improving coordination across departments and expanding student-centered services such as advising, wellness, and academic support. With support from ATD, Roxbury aspires to increase retention and degree completion by fostering a more connected campus environment and stronger engagement with the surrounding community.
SUNY Broome Community College (New York)
SUNY Broome Community College is joining the ATD Network to build on recent planning efforts and accelerate student success. With new leadership and a strategic plan focused on student achievement, the college is working to strengthen coordination across initiatives and broaden campus-wide engagement. By expanding the use of tools like Civitas and making data more accessible through its Institutional Effectiveness team, SUNY Broome aims to better identify student needs and improve the impact of interventions. Through ATD and collaboration with peer SUNY colleges, the college seeks to foster a more connected, student-focused culture that supports persistence and completion.
Tompkins Cortland Community College (New York)
Tompkins Cortland Community College is joining the ATD Network to advance college-wide transformation and strengthen student success. With leadership experienced in ATD and strategic planning, the college is focused on aligning academic programs with labor market needs, improving retention, and expanding proactive supports like success coaching and opportunity programs. Through engagement with ATD, the college endeavors to deepen its use of data, streamline the student experience, and build a more connected, student-focused institutional culture.
Thinking & Advocacy
Stories & Case Studies