Two new public-private commitments aimed at helping community colleges increase student success and develop a highly skilled workforce—a $1 million annual prize for the best program and $35 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—will be announced today at the White House Summit on Community Colleges.
The Gates Foundation’s Completion by Design initiative will provide five-year competitive grants that will build on the best ways to improve college graduation rates, White House officials said during a press briefing on the eve of the summit, which will be led by Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden and a community college English professor.
Another initiative that will be announced is a $1 million annual prize to a program or organization that exhibits the best workforce success and college completion rates. The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence will be a partnership among the
Aspen Institute,
Lumina Foundation for Education and several financial organizations.
The new public-private partnerships “underscore that we are working closely with the private sector and philanthropic sector,” said Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House.
"We want to put community colleges and employers together to create programs that match curricula in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom," President Barack Obama said in announcing the initiative.
The initial goals of the initiative are to:
- Partner busineses with community colleges to reach the president’s goal of an additional 5 million students earning college degrees or certificates by 2020.
- Create 10,000 more highly trained workers placed in jobs.
- Ensure that every state has at least one "high-impact partnership" between industry and community colleges.
To reach its goals, the initiative will recruit additional private-sector leaders to start innovative innovations, such as accelerated learning and credentialing. It will also develop a network of partnerships between employers, labor unions and community colleges with a commitment to scale up meaningful and measurable solutions.
So far, five major private employers have been named as partners that will build on their existing training programs:
- PG&E will commit over the next three years to expanding its energy job training program, emphasizing four areas: clean tech vehicles, energy efficiency and renewables, smart grid and skilled crafts. The strategy will include assistance to community colleges on curriculum design, faculty “train-the-trainer” programs, technical assistance, guest speakers, student field visits, in-kind equipment donations, program funding, employment and enlistment of additional employers to advise and hire.
- McDonald’s will double its accelerated professional literacy program over the next 18 months, reaching an additional 1,000 McDonald’s managers in 30 sites across the country. The program includes a series of four courses (210 curriculum hours) and leverages “virtual classroom” technology that allows rapid scale-up. McDonald’s also will make its virtual classroom model available to community colleges.
- United Technologies will collaborate with other employers to replicate its employee scholar and apprenticeship programs in advanced manufacturing, which have resulted in more than 30,000 degrees earned over past 15 years.
- Accenture will work with other employers and community colleges to expand its pathways programs, which prepare students with skills for their first job across industries. The company is also working with community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, education advocates and community-based organizations to promote the use of Business Roundtable’s Web-based JobSTART101 course, which teaches essential professional skills that students need when they enter the workforce.
- Gap Inc. will expand its community college partnerships by launching a new program with community colleges in seven cities. The effort will include in-store job shadowing, interview and leadership training, and scholarships. Gap expects to hire 1,200 students from community colleges in 2011, representing 5 percent of its annual hiring. Gap will make its in-house curriculum and training materials available to community college students nationwide.
- Skills for America's Future will also include a federal task force comprising top-level administration policymakers to coordinate federal efforts with business and industry.
The day’s agenda
The White house summit will begin with a plenary at noon, which will feature President Obama and Dr. Biden.
Participants will then attend pre-assigned breakout sessions for two hours. The sessions include:
Pathway to the baccalaureate: What can be done to ease the transfer from two-year to four-year colleges to ensure that students who start at community colleges earn their baccalaureate?
Increasing community college completion: What can be done to ensure that those who go to community colleges finish and either transfer to a four-year institution or transition into a career?
Affordability: Financial aid to community college students: What can be done to reduce barriers to affordability for community college students?
Community colleges in the 21st century: How are community colleges innovating to meet the needs of 21st century students and employers?
The importance of community colleges to veterans and military families: How are community colleges innovating to support military families and veterans and how can these innovations be brought to scale?
Industry/community college partnerships: What are the key factors of a successful community college-industry partnership and how can this model best educate students and get them into jobs upon completion?
Moderators will outline these discussions during the closing session, which begins at 3 p.m. and will feature Dr. Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.