New Advocacy Organization to Raise Profile of Community Colleges
Former HERDI board member, Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, is helping organize the advocacy group called Rebuilding America’s Middle Class. DuBois and his colleagues from three other states are concerned about how key policy makers, especially in Congress, misunderstand and undervalue the role of Community Colleges. The dual mission of the organization will be to link academic and workforce development with the success of the middle class.
The new organization will seek to raise the profile of community colleges while bridging political differences to align national and state educational policies. DuBois points to President Obama’s $12 billion, ten year plan for community colleges that got lost in congress and ended up as a $500 million plan over four years incorporated in the Health Care bill. “We started with this tremendous vision, the right kind of proposal to skill up America. It goes to Congress and we were hardly at the table,” DuBois stated. “Once a Democrat or a Republican or a Libertarian…becomes aware of what we bring to the table, they become supporters and they become promoters,” he said.
Tags: advocacy, congress, Glenn DuBois, Rebuilding America's Middle Class, VCCS, Virginia Community College System, workforce development
