College Is Recipient of Federal Grant to Foster Leadership
While many rural communities across America are suffering from the combined effects
of an economic downturn and the flight of young people to urban areas, faculty and staff
at Southeast Community College have a strategy to address those problems. They are
partners in a new federally funded program that will prepare students to become leaders
for community change.
College faculty have partnered with faculty from five other rural community and tribal
colleges across the country to create the Rural Leadership for Community Change
program. The program will allow faculty to collaborate on developing teaching
approaches and coursework that prepare students to become leaders for community
change. The new curriculum will combine classroom learning with hands-on projects in
the community and will serve as a model for rural community and tribal colleges
throughout the United States.
This program is funded by the federal Department of Education?s Fund for the
Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which supports innovative
educational reform projects that can serve as national models for the improvement of
postsecondary education. The grant application process is highly competitive; this year,
fewer than three percent of applicants received grants from FIPSE.
?We are committed to providing our students with the knowledge and skills they need to
be successful as members of the community as well as members of the workforce,? said
Dr. W. Bruce Ayers, president of Southeast Community College. ?This community
leadership curriculum is a natural next step for the college and the community; it will
increase our students? understanding of and commitment to the place they?ve called
home, and it will provide the community with skilled leaders to help bring about a better
future.?
Through the program, students will learn theories of and approaches to community
change and will gain corresponding leadership skills. They will gain new understanding
about economic and social issues in their community and increased motivation to become
active in civic affairs. Faculty and staff from the six participating colleges, assisted by
MDC, a nonprofit organization, will collaborate on developing and testing the most
effective methods for achieving these results.
The grant is, in part, an acknowledgement of Southeast Community College?s
outstanding background in working to benefit its community and students. ?Very few
community colleges win FIPSE grants,? said Sarah Rubin, the MDC staff member
assisting the colleges and an expert in postsecondary education rural policy and
programs. ?This grant shows that the Department of Education understands how
important developing community leaders is for rural places, as well as the fact that these
colleges have the experience and ability necessary to do it.?
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