Community colleges play a major role in developing a skilled workforce. To increase community colleges’ capacity to educate and train their local labor force, the federal government has invested nearly $2 billion in the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program.
Started in 2011 by the US Department of Labor in partnership with the US Department of Education, the TAACCCT program has funded 256 three- to four-year grants to higher education programs that can be completed in two years or less.
Through these grants, community colleges have developed innovative education and training activities. The program aims to improve short-term student outcomes, such as enrollment, persistence, completion, and credentialing, as well as long-term outcomes, such as improved student employment, retention, and earnings and the transformation of workforce development systems within communities and regions.
The Evaluation
The Urban Institute is part of a team of research organizations evaluating TAACCCT grants. We are leading the national evaluation of the first three rounds of grants, documenting and assessing the grants’ implementation and outcomes and synthesizing evidence from third-party evaluations. Urban is also a partner on the fourth-round evaluation, led by Abt Associates.