Since the existing literature on the impact of early alert systems (EAS) focuses on four-year institutions, we lack widespread understanding of EAS effectiveness for community college students. In addition, very few studies evaluate racial equity implications for EAS, which makes it challenging for community college leaders to translate results to a college context that offers diverse types of sub-baccalaureate credentials and serves more students of color, low-income, non-residential, and working students than the four-year sector. For the research that does exist in a community college context, the findings are inconsistent and inconclusive. To fill this knowledge gap, we talked with community college leaders, third-party EAS vendors, and experts in the field to understand the challenges surrounding system design/configuration, implementation, use, and perceived effectiveness of EAS at community colleges. We emphasize the importance of mitigating racial discrimination and labeling when using these systems. From our interviews, we identify five of the most common reasons many EAS do not live up to their potential in rendering improved student success and offer five recommendations on how to equitably address those issues. Our report focuses on the early alert feature as a component of a case management system that many community colleges adopt.