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Achieving the Dream: JCC selected as part of national initiative

Jackson Community College officials are pleased to announce that the College has been selected to join Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The College is one of six from Michigan, and 26 overall, joining the initiative this year. The initiative has now grown to 84 participating institutions in 15 states. This marks the first expansion into Michigan.

Achieving the Dream provides participating colleges with support to implement strategies designed to help more students – particularly students of color and low-income students – earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to other institutions to continue their studies. Achieving the Dream emphasizes building a culture of evidence, in which colleges use data to identify effective practices, improve student success rates and close achievement gaps.

Jackson Community College will receive a $50,000 grant this year to plan and launch Achieving the Dream, and will then become eligible for an implementation grant worth up to $400,000 over four years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

“I am so pleased that Jackson Community College once again is recognized nationwide as a premier college that is committed to helping all students,” said JCC President Daniel J. Phelan, Ph.D. “Achieving the Dream, an initiative to help at-risk students and students of color, is a key strategic initiative of the College and aligns well with JCC’s College Incentive Program which has been in existence since 1989.”

As part of its participation, JCC will work closely with an Achieving the Dream coach, many of whom are former college presidents, and a data facilitator who provides hand-on help with the use of data. More information about Achieving the Dream, including a full list of participants, can be found online at www.achievingthedream.org.

Achieving the Dream was launched in 2004 with start-up funding from Lumina Foundation for Education, which continues to fund aspects of the initiative. Nineteen additional funders have since joined the initiative, bringing additional institutions and states into Achieving the Dream.