A new three-year initiative will help North Carolina’s rural community colleges build sustainable leadership structures and strategic planning capacity, according to a Monday press release.
The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, housed at NC State’s College of Education, announced the initiative will launch this summer with support from the nonprofit Ascendium Education Group.
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According to the Belk Center, nearly four out of five community colleges in the state serve rural communities — and over 80% of these colleges have strategic plans that are outdated or set to expire in the next three years. Without strong strategic plans, colleges can struggle to respond to their communities’ challenges, such as technological shifts or workforce gaps.
“An outdated strategic plan can adversely impact a college’s ability to meet the needs of the community due to factors such as not keeping up with local workforce needs, technological trends, operational inefficiencies, and so on,” said A.J. Jaeger, executive director of the Belk Center, in a statement to EdNC. “An example of a community college that has successfully aligned its strategic plan with local workforce needs is Forsyth Technical Community College’s ‘Vision 2030’ strategic plan, which contains measurable strategic impact outcomes specific to family-sustaining wages as well as active partnerships with regional employers that lead to internships, apprenticeships and jobs.”
The new initiative aims to make strong strategic plans available across more rural colleges, as it builds leaders’ planning expertise.
“Rural community colleges are the economic engines of their communities, but to maximize their impact, leadership across the state must have the tools to navigate a rapidly changing labor market,” said Jaeger. “Thanks to the generous support from Ascendium, we are launching an initiative to create clear pathways from education to high-demand employment. By prioritizing data-driven decision-making, we are ensuring that every rural student has the opportunity for upward economic mobility.”
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The effort will provide two professional development opportunities for rural college leaders.
The Strategic Planning Institute will offer 45 leaders from 24 community colleges a yearlong coaching program, teaching them how to produce workforce-aligned strategic plans with a focus on how to turn these plans into strategies specific to their coverage areas.
“The Belk Center will be making selections on the timing for the expiration of a college’s strategic plan as well as interest among college presidents in engaging with the institute,” said Sarah Deal, director of research at the Belk Center.
The initiative also includes an annual summer program for colleges’ senior leaders and institutional effectiveness/research staff. This program will prepare nine to 12 fellows over three years, to serve as mentors and facilitators. This would make peer-to-peer expertise a “permanent resource” within the state’s community college system, the release said.
“The Strategic Planning Institute and the Fellows Program are grounded in a combination of empirical evidence, field experience and alignment with proven models and initiatives in higher education reform and workforce development,” said Deal in a statement to EdNC. “This project is well-conceived and highly likely to achieve its goals of building capacity to successfully track and improve student and workforce outcomes across rural community colleges across North Carolina.”
The initiative’s improvements will be measured through five metrics, according to the release:
- Improved Student Persistence: Increasing first-to-second year retention rates through streamlined advising, integrated student services and the removal of institutional barriers.
- Boosting Credential Completion: Achieving higher rates of degree, diploma and certificate attainment by aligning programs with labor market demand and providing targeting student support.
- Accelerated Time to Degree: Reducing the average time students need to complete their credentials through efficient course scheduling, guided pathways and coordinated transfer planning.
- Enhanced Labor Market Success: Improving graduate employment and earnings outcomes by strengthening employer partnerships, offering applied learning experiences and utilizing workforce-aligned curricula.
- Fostering Upward Mobility: Driving long-term wage growth and economic advancement for community college graduates, particularly those from rural and low-income backgrounds.
The Belk Center said the initiatives’ improvements to leadership and planning capacity will yield better outcomes and upward economic mobility for rural college students — a priority for Ascendium, according to the release.
“Ascendium believes all learners deserve opportunities to achieve upward mobility through education and workforce training,” said Kirstin Yeado, senior strategy officer at Ascendium. “We are pleased to support the Belk Center’s efforts to build leadership and strategic planning capacity across North Carolina’s rural colleges so they can strengthen pathways to opportunity for learners across the state.”
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