Conference Welcomes New Members Fighting for Equity

Energy and excitement filled the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, as over two thousand community college leaders, faculty, and staff gathered to share stories of access, equity, and inclusion at the 2023 Dream conference. The four-day event connects educators, both in and outside Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) network of over 300 community colleges, working to close attainment gaps.

Presidents of the five City Colleges of Chicago accepted in the inaugural Accelerating Equitable Outcomes program stand with other Achieving the Dream network presidents and ATD President Dr. Karen A. Stout.Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of ATD, welcomed attendees and praised the increases in completion rates for Black students at community colleges. Stout also acknowledged the sector’s overall enrollment losses, particularly among Black learners, whose enrollment fell by 26% between 2011 and 2019.

Stout characterized the work to close equity gaps in higher education as Sisyphean, constantly pushing the rock uphill, a brutal battle against gravity that always seeks the summit. Achieving the summit doesn’t just support the student on their way to a degree but also the community they live in.

“Community prosperity rests on [community colleges’] shoulders, as we are perhaps more than any other institutions hubs of equitable social and economic mobility,” said Stout. “Our colleges have to be inextricably connected to our communities, leveraging our localness. The best community colleges take the shape of their community while building a new future for that community through support of students.”

The theme of this year’s conference, in-person for the first time since COVID-19, is access, momentum, mobility and community impact. The challenge of the work, Stout added, will be to shift institutional design to be created through the lens of students and community.

“As a sector, we must take responsibility for remedying our design flaws rather than placing the burden on students who are marginalized,” said Stout. “We need to love and care about the students we serve and design our colleges so all students feel a sense of worth and belonging.”

ATD also announced the 10 community colleges selected as the first cohort for ATD’s new three-year Accelerating Equitable Outcomes program. Funded by a grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the cohort will receive capacity building support from ATD with the goal of increasing the number of students achieving a postsecondary credential, which will in turn bolster the communities in which they live.