Raise the Awareness: Community College Month
April is Community College Month, a time to recognize and spread awareness of the hard work and achievement happening every day on community college campuses. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, there are more than 12 million students enrolled at community colleges across the country, institutions that serve an incredibly diverse student population and put millions of people’s educational and career goals within reach. [1] In turn, these institutions are supported by faculty, staff, and administrators who are truly a testament to what it means to commit deeply to whole-student success.
Fun fact: Community colleges are an American invention that put publicly funded higher education at close-to-home facilities, beginning over 100 years ago with Joliet Junior College. [2]
Next month, NISOD member colleges are celebrating Community College Month by honoring faculty and staff and inviting local communities onto their campuses. In preparation for our Community College Month campaign during April, below are a few ways you can ensure you’ll hear about what NISOD and NISOD member colleges are doing to observe Community College Month.
1. #NISODProfiles
NISOD will be honoring faculty, staff, and administrators at community colleges by featuring leading individuals at our member colleges once a week and across ALL social media platforms (usually the features appear bi-weekly and only on Instagram). We’ll also open the archives for past #NISODProfiles features in case you’ve missed any this year.
Don’t miss a #NISODProfiles feature: follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
2. Social Media Awareness Campaign
We’ll be posting interesting facts and statistics about community colleges, quotes about the state of community colleges from our member college presidents, videos, and links to how colleges across the world serve their communities and invite their communities into the college. Follow our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to keep up with the informative (and, really, super interesting!), content we’ve curated.
3. #ThisIsCC Spotlights in NISODirect
We’re sharing what our member colleges are doing to celebrate Community College Month in several #ThisIsCC Spotlights. Sign up for NISOD’s members-only newsletter to peek at what other member colleges are doing to honor faculty and staff, make their college part of the community, and raise overall awareness of the vital social role of community and technical colleges.
In addition, throughout April you can use the hashtag #ThisIsCC on social posts about your involvement with your college or practices and programs to support student success and we will repost and retweet your content to contribute to the effort for community college awareness.
Looking forward to celebrating community colleges and and connecting over promoting community college awareness!
[1] www.aacc.nche.edu/about-us/mission-statement
[2] www.aacc.nche.edu/research-trends