Now’s the time to join Achieving the Dream! 

During the opening plenary of DREAM 2024, ATD’s signature annual conference, ATD President and CEO Dr. Karen A. Stout remarked on the boldness with which the organization is incorporating community vitality as a goal of the student success movement and the critical, time-sensitive nature of the adoption of this goal by the student success field. “Our vision and hope today is equally as big and ambitious as the original hope and vision for ATD was 20 years ago,” she said, “but it is [also] equally as urgent.”  

At a time when the stakes could not be higher for increasing student success and community vibrancy, the field, fortunately, is responding. Consisting of over 300 colleges and universities across 44 states, the ATD Network continues to grow each year with an increasing number of colleges embracing the notion that student success should not be defined solely by the success of individual students but should include markers of collective success of communities as well. 

On Sept. 30, ATD will present a webinar, Joining the ATD Network: Transforming Lives, Transforming Communities, to share steps that community colleges not currently in the ATD Network can take to explore joining the organization and becoming part of the movement that carries ATD’s mission forward. 

By working with Achieving the Dream, colleges and universities benefit from the collective wisdom of the national ATD Network of institutions, learning both from and with their peers through exclusive access to Network events, summits, and convenings. They also benefit from strategic, customized, sustained support during their participation in the Network and have options to deepen their work through targeted coaching services through which they reap the rewards of our extensive experience innovating and anticipating future needs in the face of continual change.  

Colleges joining ATD and its Network see accelerated progress toward transformation. They link ATD’s institutional capacity framework to their strategic plan to center their efforts on their students and their communities. They adopt new strategies for identifying and responding to the unique needs of the distinct communities they serve.  

While not all changes are immediate, with time and sustained commitment, colleges in the ATD Network often accomplish dramatic increases in student success. 

If your college is not part of the ATD Network, we hope you will register to attend the Joining the ATD Network webinar later this month to learn more about how ATD can position you to transform your institution, your students’ lives, and the communities you serve. If your college is already an ATD college but you have colleagues at an out-of-Network institution, we hope you will let them know about this opportunity to join us in fulfilling our big, ambitious, and urgent vision.