Students who earn community college associate degrees and credentials generally see positive results in the job market. However, these benefits—including job opportunities and earnings—are not equally shared among historically marginalized students.

Black, Latinx, and female workers face systematic discrimination and structural barriers to higher-quality jobs with greater upward mobility. This project documents how community colleges are designing services to advance equity for underserved students and the important role employers play in breaking down workplace barriers.  

What We Did

The study, funded by the Lumina and Annie E. Casey foundations, documented how colleges in the Advancing Community Equity and Upward Mobility (ACE-UP) Community of Practice use equity-centered approaches to improve outcomes for historically marginalized students, especially students of color.

We gathered information through surveys, document reviews, and interviews with college staff and partners. To explore how colleges can help students that face challenges entering the labor market, we also analyzed occupational segregation and crowding in the information technology (IT) and health care sectors. 

The project aims to share knowledge through several resources:

• Special topics briefs highlight efforts to advance equity in community colleges, based on interviews with staff and partners at four institutions. Topics include institutional leadership and structures that support equity, data and metrics, employer engagement, and supportive services and career services. 
  • Career Services Strategies to Advance Equity
  • Using Supportive Services to Advance Community College Equity Goals
  • Engagement and Partnership with Employers to Advance Equity
  • How Community Colleges Use Data and Metrics to Advance Equity
  • Institutional Leadership and Structures that Support Equity
• An interim report summarizes survey findings from ACE-UP colleges on their equity goals, metrics, and factors affecting progress.

Forthcoming

• An occupational crowding brief analyzes systemic and structural issues that contribute to occupational segregation and crowding in the IT and health care sectors, with strategies to overcome the barriers students face.
• Blog posts and conference materials share key study findings.
  • How to Create Communities of Practice That Help Community Colleges Improve Student Outcomes
  • Building Evidence to Help Community College Students Obtain and Advance in Health Care Careers
• A final report describes lessons learned from ACE-UP colleges, including updated survey results.