Resource Guide
Resources for presidents and other community college employees
A primary focus of our work at the Belk Center is to support community college leaders and educators in making evidence-based decisions that advance student outcomes. The purpose of this guide is to curate a hub of information for community colleges interested in valuable resources that can continue to inform decisions that support student success in North Carolina.
Our partners at the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program provide a useful framework for defining student success. Based on their work with community colleges, they have observed that excellent community colleges demonstrate high-quality outcomes in learning, completion and transfer, labor market outcomes and equity. In North Carolina, research and practice points to areas of strength and opportunities to address the leaks in our education pipeline. The Belk Center believes that community colleges are critical to the social and economic mobility of persons in North Carolina and the economic competitiveness of their regions.
Contents
High School Students
Resources related to recruitment of high school students upon graduation – specifically pertaining to those who intend to go to college but do not enroll.
Holistic Student Success
Resources dedicated to supporting students that include strategies for community college pipeline, partway home students, retention/persistence and completion.
Reports and Data Resources
- North Carolina Leaky Pipeline Report
- Opportunity Insights
- Economic Tracker
- Using Big Data Course
- CREED Equity Report
- NCCC Equity Report
- Structural Equity: Big-Picture Thinking & Partnerships That Improve Community College Student Outcomes
- Race and Ethnicity in Higher Ed
- Meeting the Needs of Underserved Students
- Messaging to Underrepresented Populations
Partway Home
Resources dedicated to partway home students or adult learners who have accumulated some college credit.
Reports and Data Resources
- Addressing Enrollment Challenges: Recruiting the Adult Learner
- A Major Step: What Adults Without Degrees Say About Going (Back) to College
- High Costs, Uncertain Benefits: What Do Americans Without a College Degree Think About Postsecondary Education?
- Some College, No Credential Student Outcomes Annual Progress Report – Academic Year 2020/21
- The Post-Traditional Learners Manifesto Revisited
- A Focus on Non-Completers: One Strategy for Upskilling the Existing Workforce in NC
- Some College and No Degree: How Individuals Who Attend and Don’t Graduate Feel About Education
Statewide Partway Home Initiatives
- Tennessee Reconnect
- Complete to Compete (Mississippi)
- Reach Higher (Oklahoma)
- You Can. Go Back. (Indiana)
- Disengaged Adults Returning to College Grant Program (New Jersey)
Labor Market Outcomes
To ensure that students are being placed upon completion, it is vital to use labor market outcomes to predict the institution’s geographic labor needs and support programs, certificates and continuing education in those areas.
Reports and Data Resources
- Preparing the Workforce in Today’s Community Colleges
- Student Success for Life: How Colleges Prepare Graduates for Careers
- Talent Development Pipeline for Youth: Creating a Career-Ready Workforce in NC
- Better Together: Enhancing Partnerships in Mississippi
- Ladderzup: A Strategic Public-Public Partnership for Regional Workforce Development
- The Indispensable Institution: Reimagining Community College
- Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce: The Global Learning Imperative for Career and Technical Education Programs at Community and Technical Colleges
- Partnerships for a Future-Ready Workforce (2018)
- The College-Work Balancing Act (2019)
General Data Resources
- North Carolina Community College System Data Dashboards
- North Carolina Community College System State and Federal Reporting Requirements
- North Carolina Chamber of Commerce 2030 Dashboard
- University of North Carolina System Dashboards
- NC Tower
- North Carolina Chamber of Commerce Labor Supply/Demand Analyzer
Retention and Credential Completion
Resources related to retention and credential completion for community college students.
Student Services
Student services play a vital role in providing holistic support for students including academic advising, financial aid and identity-based programming.
Emergency Aid
- Emergency Aid for Higher Education
- Landscape Analysis of Emergency Aid Program
- Beyond the Food Pantry: Guide to Emergency
Transfer
Equitable and efficient transfer practices and policies are crucial in North Carolina. And with a statewide attainment goal of two million people ages 25 to 44 with a meaningful, high-quality credential beyond high school by 2030, transfer pathways that support students to earn degrees and enter the workforce are essential.
Reports and Data Resources
- Front Range Community College’s Bridges to Baccalaureate Program Helps Students Transfer and Graduate
- Transfer Workshop Action Guide Template
- Tracking Transfer
- Transfer Playbook
- The Transfer Playbook: Essential Community College Practices
- The Transfer Playbook: Tool for Assessing Progress Toward Adoption of Essential Transfer Practices for Community Colleges
- Measuring Your College’s Effectiveness Serving Transfer Students
- Understanding and supporting the successful transfer of community college students to four-year institutions webinar
- Pathway Design II
- Transfer and Employment Program Mapping Template
- Transfer Conditions For LatinX Tejanx Community College Students
Teaching and Learning
Teaching and Learning Centers
- Achieving the Dream’s Teaching and Learning Services
- Harper College’s Harper Academy
- LaGuardia College’s Center for Teaching and Learning
- Sinclair Community College’s Center for Teaching and Learning
- Valencia College’s Centers for Teaching/Learning Innovation
- Durham Technical Community College’s Teaching-Learning Center
Fundraising
This section provides organizations that typically fund community colleges and related projects. We encourage sharing your institution’s action plan and strategies to build connections and potentially receive funding.
Statewide and National Organizations
- BB&T Charitable Foundation
- Bank of America Foundation
- BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation
- The Blumenthal Foundation
- The Coca-Cola Foundation, Inc.
- The Cannon Foundation
- Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Duke Energy Foundation
- Duke Energy/Piedmont Natural Gas Community College Apprenticeship Grant Program
- The Gambrell Foundation
- GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
- The Golden Leaf Foundation
- Foundation for the Carolinas
- John M. Belk Educational Endowment
- John William Pope Foundation
- The Leon Levine Foundation
- North Carolina Community Foundation
- The Oak Foundation U.S.A.
- PNC Bank Memorial Foundation
- SECU Foundation
- The Sunshine Lady Foundation
- Wells Fargo
- Smith Reynolds Foundation
Western North Carolina Organizations
- Cabarrus County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Cherokee County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Cleveland County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- The Community Foundation of Gaston County
- Community Foundation of Henderson County
- The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina
- Iredell County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Lexington Area Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Lincoln County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
- Salisbury-Rowan Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Stanly County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
- Union County Community Foundation (FFTC Affiliate)
Organizations with Additional Resources
Organizations
- CCRC
- Aspen Institute
- The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT)
- NC Community College System (NCCCS)
- American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
- Achieving the Dream (ATD)
- Gates Foundation
- Education Commission of the States
- Lumina Foundation
- Institute for Higher Education Policy
- League for Innovation in the Community College
- ECMC Foundation
- University of North Carolina System
- myFutureNC
- NASPA
- American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Inside Higher Ed
- EdNC
- Office of Community College Research and Leadership
- Wheelhouse
- ACCU
- EAB
- Center for Community College Student Engagement
- The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice
- Education Strategy Group (ESG)