IVCCD Joins #CCMonth Campaign to Draw Attention to Community Colleges
The Iowa Valley Community College District will join Iowa’s 15 community colleges and over 1,200 community, technical and junior colleges across the nation in celebration of Community College Month (#CCMonth), a monthlong grassroots education and stigma-busting campaign coordinated by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). The primary goals of #CCmonth are to improve awareness of the economic, academic and equity advantages of attending community colleges, and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associated with public two-year colleges.
“The past year has proved beyond any doubt that our college is absolutely vital to our community and our state,” said Dr. Kristie Fisher, President of Iowa Valley Community College District. “#CCMonth is an opportunity to reach out into both and to demonstrate not only that community colleges should be the first choice of many collegegoers, but why community colleges are first-class institutions that are vital to our local and state economies.”
Public community colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality higher education for all people. They are the primary educators of life-saving nursing and other healthcare professionals among many others. They also serve as an onramp to bachelor’s, master’s and higher-level degrees for many students, and particularly for the most demographically and socioeconomically diverse students. They guarantee fair admissions for all students. They offer supports for adult students who have to work to support their families. And without community colleges, many American students would not be able to access higher education at all.
In short, community colleges were created to serve the needs of their communities, and they do it exceptionally well.
“Community colleges are engines of diversity, equity and inclusion,” said ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee. “They give opportunities to all students, and they support all students throughout their educations, whether they attend to attain an associate degree or certificate, intend to transfer on for a bachelor’s or higher degree, or they take one or a few courses to learn a new skill or expand their horizons.”
Those interested in celebrating #CCMonth should follow the social media channels of the District’s member schools (Ellsworth Community College, Marshalltown Community College, Iowa Valley Grinnell, and Business and Community Solutions) for facts about these schools, and the value that community colleges add to the educational landscape in Iowa.