The Chronicle of Higher Education reminds us that the White House is sponsoring a summit on community colleges on October 5, 2010. Dr. Jill Biden will lead the summit and the intent, according to the announcement, is:
to bring together community colleges, business, philanthropy, federal and state policy leaders, and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the nation’s evolving workforce, as well as the critical role these institutions play in achieving the President’s goal to lead the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
Want to know more? Here’s a video from http://whitehouse.gov/communitycollege. The range of people who identify themselves as having benefited from community colleges is pretty inspiring. Take a look.
Interested in participating? You don’t have to go to DC in order to be part of the conversation. The announcement on WhiteHouse.gov invites you to do any or all of the following:
- Submit a Video. How has the community college experience affected your life? Please let us know by submitting your stories via YouTube or our webform.
- Join the Dialogue. We’ve set up an online dialogue to bring together community college administrators, students and stakeholders from around the country to discuss these ideas.
- Plan an Event. You can host a group or watch the live webcast of the plenary session of the summit on October 5. Much of the day’s content will be available online here at whitehouse.gov, and it will be a unique opportunity to be a part of this important and ongoing discussion.
The summit is intended to be a forum where people all across the country, regardless of their relationship to community colleges, can voice their opinions about the role that schools like NCC should play in shaping the future. Make sure you have your say, and let your students and their families know about this too. Each of our voices matter. Community colleges are important to the future of all our communities!