"The Unsung Heroes"

"These [community] colleges are the unsung heroes of America’s education system. They may not get the credit they deserve. They may not get the same resources as other schools. But they provide a gateway to millions of Americans to good jobs and a better life."

- Barack Obama, United States President

As some of you may know, yesterday marked the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. For those of you didn't know that, here's a short little description of what the Summit was all about, via a news release from the Office of the Vice President:

"This event will highlight the critical role that community colleges play in developing America’s workforce and reaching our educational goals. The Summit will also enable Americans across the country to submit their thoughts, questions and challenges for discussion as part of the Summit dialogue."

The opening of the summit began with a student from Arizona State University and graduate of Maricopa Community College, Albert Ojeda. He shared his inspiring story about his journey from a community college to a four-year university. Ojeda then introduced Dr. Jill Biden, Vice-President Joe Biden's wife and a community college professor, who said, "Today’s summit is an important next step in our efforts to meet the President’s goal of having the best-educated, most competitive workforce in the world by the end of this decade."

Dr. Biden also states that "community colleges are the largest, fastest-growing, most affordable segment of America’s higher education system," and that they have been providing alternative options to students for generations. She also stated that the President has challenged all American community colleges to graduate an additional 5 million graduates by 2020.

"Our challenge is not just to get students into college, but to keep them there and to graduate them faster with the skills they need to succeed in the American workforce," Biden said. "This is the moment for community colleges to shine."

United States President Barack Obama followed Jill Biden by announcing a series of grants and programs to help community colleges to reach the goal of 5 million graduates by 2020. He stated that reaching that goal will not just depend on the government, but on the educators and students too, as well as business and non-profits. Obama has asked his Economic Advisory Board to "reach out to employers across the country and come up with new ways for businesses and community colleges to work together."


One of the results of that search is a new partnership called Skills for America's Future, where "businesses and community colleges work together to match the work in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom," Obama said.

He also announced a $35 million grant from the Gates Foundation called "Completion By Design," which is a five-year initiative that will target schools in nine different states (source: Christian Science Monitor).

(Jill Biden and President Obama's full remarks from the Summit are available online.)

Other speakers included Melinda Gates on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Penny Pritzker on behalf of the Skills for America's Future grant.

You can watch the opening session of the Summit online.

As someone who works for a community college, and having my dad and sister as former students of St. Charles Community College, this hits pretty close to home to me. I think it's exciting and I hope community colleges will be able to benefit from this Summit and all of the grants. I also hope this is just the starting point for the nation to be aware of how important community colleges are to higher education, and that the Summit will generate more grants for them and their students in the future.