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Good leaders need to develop and improve their skills. That's why the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) created a set of competencies for community college leaders that has served as the foundation for informal and doctoral-level training programs. When the original competencies were revised in 2012, AACC sought input from a number of national groups to better define the qualities of a 21st-century leader. The competencies cover the following essential areas: (1) organizational strategy; (2) institutional finance, research, fundraising, and resource management; (3) communication; (4) collaboration; and (5) advocacy. AACC's John E. Roueche Future Leaders Institute (FLI) is designed to help people gain valuable skills while interacting with other aspiring and current leaders. In addition to classes on topics such as fundraising and presentation skills, attendees can sign up for one-on-one career coaching in which leaders review resumes and give guidance. In addition to formal and informal schooling, aspiring leaders need to build a network and participate in ongoing professional development. Statewide and national programs are crucial to gaining access to people who probably wouldn't be on your campus. One of the best ways to form a network is attending statewide conferences, says Jamillah Moore, chancellor of Ventura Community College District in California advises trying to connect with people who have your job as well as the job you want. Moore encourages looking for patterns in teaching experience, research, and former positions and then see if you fit that particular mold.

Teachers dedicate their lives to working with students, but also in learning from each other. In programs around the Spokane, Washington area of the U.S., teachers have been meeting with the intention of strengthen connections and smooth transitions between K-12 schools and institutions of higher education in alignment with expectations for the "Common Core State Standards" and to discuss the implications for remediation. In addition to reviewing curricula with colleagues, participating instructors at the K--12 and higher education levels are working to update community college placement processes. In this article, Ellen Ullman provides a look at how some community colleges are working with K-12 schools to align reforms for improved results.

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation's Future" (see ED535906). Specifically, the report encourages educators to "target public and private investments" that "support community college efforts to reclaim the American Dream." How can leaders generate support and buy-in for their reforms? Brown-Sow and other community college leaders have been developing innovative programs for years. In this article, they offer advice for how community college leaders can approach and influence decision makers within their own communities.

What does it take to be an effective leader? That's a question 146 first-time community college presidents will be attempting to answer as they take the reins at their respective institutions this fall. Whether it's figuring out how to be a better listener or how to form relationships with trustees and board members and other stakeholders in the community, one advantage these young leaders won't have is experience. Fortunately, a few of their more seasoned CEO colleagues have some advice. For this special report, our editors reached out to some of the nation's most experienced and respected community college CEOs and asked them to share the essentials to successful community college leadership. Stepping into a larger, more visible role at your college this fall? Don't miss these 11 tips for success.

Aware that rising costs could force some community colleges to compromise their long-standing open-door policies, administrators have put in place programs and incentives to offset the higher price of the average community college education. This article features ideas and programs to help struggling community colleges cope with rising costs such as College Promise, a scholarship program that lets participating local students attend their first year at Aims Community College for little or no cost. The California Community Colleges, among the most economically challenged institutions of their kind in the country, recently launched the I Can Afford College campaign--a statewide program to increase awareness among current and prospective community college students of year-round financial- aid opportunities. Because textbooks are expensive-so much so that many community college students wait to buy them until after the semester has started when they cash their financial aid checks. Still others see the price tag and skip buying books altogether. The article also describes a movement called College Open Textbooks (COT), and explains how it is trying to change all that whether it's offering differential pricing, helping students connect with financial aid opportunities, or finding ways to cut the cost of books and supplies, community colleges are going the extra mile so that students can afford to keep coming back.

In his State of the Union Address in January, President Obama said he visited "many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can't find workers with the right skills." Not hard to imagine, considering the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that only one in every 18 workers in America currently works in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM)-related job. With more than 2 million STEM workforce opportunities expected to come online in the next two years, it's worth asking whether American workers will be in a better position in 2014 than they are today. That's the hope of principal investigators for the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, who have spent the better part of two decades working with community colleges and local workforce and business partners to create job opportunities through high-tech, hands-on training initiatives. This special report features insights and input from organizers at five of ATE's most successful centers.

As community colleges focus on becoming more efficient and preparing more students for success in a climate of reduced state and federal funding, many institutions are reaching out to neighbors in business and industry, forming partnerships and working together to achieve goals that require money and resources colleges are unlikely to raise on their own. Across the country, community college leaders are realizing the benefits of working with industry. "Partnerships are the new currency for community colleges of the future," says DeRionne Pollard, president of Montgomery College (MC) in Maryland. "There will be no new resources magically appearing, and no one is going to be handing us money." Every relationship needs a quid pro quo. No one understands this better than Tony Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in North Carolina. "Give value first," he says. "If you deliver a very good service to a business, they want to reciprocate." Experienced college leaders know that maintaining relationships with industry is as important as starting them. Zeiss has accomplished this at CPCC by identifying new ways to help business partners perform better. The college is working with Family Dollar, a nationwide discount retailer, to find and train qualified minority employees to staff its stores. Experts believe that today's community college presidents spend at least 80 percent of their time building relationships and raising money. The days of just running the college are long gone. Good leaders have the passion and ability to connect with industry, nonprofits, and any and all stakeholders within their reach.

Community colleges have long taken pride in their ability to adjust to changing workforce needs. They adjust when local plumbers union requires a new certification. They also adjust when a biotechnology manufacturer seeks workers to staff its state-of-the-art research facility. But what happens when a new industry materializes almost overnight? With the explosion of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites--Facebook alone now boasts more than 800 million users worldwide--more employers want workers who can skillfully navigate the social media universe. And community colleges are quickly becoming the place to turn. Demand for workers with specialized online skills prompts colleges to develop new workforce training programs.

Community colleges for a long time have operated under the misguided assumption that they should not waste time or resources prospecting and cultivating their alumni in hopes of generating philanthropic support. How could two-year colleges possibly compete with the success of alumni giving at four-year universities--with their selective admissions criteria, residential communities, and high-profile sports teams? Given these perceptions, it is easy to understand why community college efforts to pursue alumni support lack sufficient momentum. In order to capitalize on this rich pool of prospective donors, community colleges must build programs to identify, support, and engage alumni, thereby turning former students into alumni donors. The authors' research suggests that a successful alumni fundraising program includes six key building blocks: (1) institutional support; (2) socialization of students to become alumni donors; (3) accurate alumni contact information; (4) ongoing communication with alumni; (5) opportunities for alumni to engage; and (6) the ask.

Construction on community college campuses is often paid for out of general capital or operations budgets or by way of taxpayer-approved bonds. But, as state and local money becomes increasingly scarce, many colleges, while still pursuing traditional funding sources, are also considering alternative strategies to support facilities upgrades on campus. As state funding dried up for the Building 4 project at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, the administrators reached out to their neighbors at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to discuss co-ownership. Florida Keys Community College (FKCC) decided to build an on-campus student housing three years ago which was approved by the state legislature in 2008, but with limitations. Committed to moving forward, administrators established two direct support organizations (DSOs) to fund the project through the use of gifts and grants. Metropolitan Community College (MCC) did a total renovation of an existing building rather than construct a new building.