For community colleges, the big news coming out of the President’s announcement yesterday on his FY13 budget proposal was, perhaps, not surprising: a significant investment in community college workforce development programs. The proposed $8 billion “Community College to Career” fund follows on the heels of last year’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The goal is to grow and create more job training programs that will lead directly to employment—and it’s another recognition of the central role community colleges play in individual and regional economic development.
MCC has long been a key player in meeting the area’s dynamic workforce needs—whether through short-term training or career degree programs. Under Todd Oldham’s leadership as Vice President for Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services, we have made a concerted effort recently to improve and expand our industry partnerships, becoming more involved in identifying and addressing the growing need for a high tech middle skills workforce. The college is also reaching out directly to potential career track students. The most recent marker of this change is the newly launched MCC Career Coach.
But, as important as job training is, it is not all that any community college does, and that is definitely true of MCC. So, the news that both the National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities could be the beneficiaries of additional funding ($8 million each) is good news for all of higher education. As is the 5% increase in National Science Foundation funding. More and more frequently, NSF has come to acknowledge the essential role community colleges play in building the STEM pipeline. Similarly, NEH and NEA appear to be focusing more on the role of the humanities and arts in community colleges—and how our institutions serve as focal points for our diverse communities.
It’s marvelous to see how the various orbits—job training and scholarship, careers and research—intersect at MCC, to the great benefit of all. Our students learn the theory of robotics and put it into practice. They study literature, write plays, build sets, and market performances. They learn the principles of marketing and communication and then develop real life case studies. They step from the education classroom into schools to tutor and mentor and then on into their “own” classrooms for fieldwork. They study civic engagement and move their lessons into our community through service learning.
Regardless if the particulars ever make it out of committee and into reality, the broad outlines of the President's budget still hint at the powerful depth of what we do -- and the opportunities to do so much more. We are about economic development and quality of life. We are about the true building of individuals and community.We are about helping each student fulfill her and his promise.
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