The purpose of this program is to build community colleges’ capacity to meet the skill development needs of employers and equitably support students in obtaining good jobs in in-demand industries, based on labor market information, using strategies rooted in evidence and designed to build further evidence on the effectiveness of sector-based career pathways programs in leading to positive employment outcomes. They also will use the diverse strengths of their SCC Partnership members to accomplish and sustain systems change. The Department anticipates that enhancements funded by this grant program will ultimately benefit a broad range of current and future students at participating institutions.
This fifth round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants builds on early learnings from the initial rounds of SCC grants. All five rounds of SCC grants build on evidence from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program, which focused on capacity building at community colleges and large-scale systems change within community college consortia. See Appendix A for resources on those grants and other related initiatives.
To contribute to further evidence building, the Department has designed SCC5 to support a national impact evaluation, as described in Section I.I. Evaluations. For example, SCC5 uses a “core components” concept through which applicants will select from specific Strategy Options when designing enhancements to their sector-based career pathways programs. These options have a foundation in evidence (Peck 2021, Appendix A) and build on promising practices from the first round of SCC grants. The options also emphasize employer engagement and student supports with the intention of enhancing community colleges’ capacity to equitably assist students in obtaining good jobs.
To ensure that SCC5 grant projects accomplish the goals of the FOA, the Department will fund applications that address, in their proposals, each of the required SCC5 Core Elements, which, while presented below sequentially, are interrelated and mutually reinforcing:
• Core Element 1: Sector-Based Career Pathways Programs
• Core Element 2: Good Jobs, Equitable Employment Outcomes, and Student Voice
• Core Element 3: Strategy Options
• Core Element 4: Sustainable Systems Change
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