With support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and Jobs for the Future (JFF) formed the Greenforce Initiative--a two-year venture that will work with community colleges across the nation to strengthen their capacity to implement or refine quality pathways…

Immigrants and others who didn't grow up speaking English are often at a disadvantage when entering the workforce. One of the best ways for non-native English speakers to level the playing field is to enroll in targeted courses and job-training programs offered through their local community colleges. The best of these programs combines important…

In today's highly-skilled economy, rewarding career pathways are available to those who acquire technical skills by enrolling in certificate and associate degree programs in a community or technical college. Such programs are often more costly to offer than liberal arts and sciences programs that prepare students to transfer to four-year…

Neoliberal governments consider global business competitiveness to be thwarted by costly bureaucratic regulation and programme duplication. In an effort to downsize the costs of operating a state, the governors now streamline job training functions via a coordinated workforce and economic development effort known as sector strategies, with…

The adult basic education field in the United States is now being encouraged to shift to a "career pathways" orientation by policy research organizations, federal and state agencies, community college organizations, business groups, and private foundations. In such an approach, adult basic education programs work with workforce…

Current research indicates that community colleges are facing what has been termed a "leadership crisis" due to the high number of Baby Boomers retiring and those planning to retire in the next several years (McCall, 2006; Bagnato, 2004; Shults, 2001). In 2006, the American Association of Community Colleges recommended community colleges…

Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community…

The emerging green economy will create not just jobs, but--if done right--career opportunities across the United States as green manufacturing, green products, and green services fuel demand for workers at all skill levels. Sixty-one percent of the members of the Association of Energy Engineers report a growing shortage of qualified professionals…

This qualitative comparative case study examines the workforce training programs offered in a US community college and the vocational and technical programs offered in a comparable Chinese postsecondary institution. The study sought to identify transferable qualities and characteristics that could contribute to improving the workforce training…

Shifting Gears was launched in 2007 by the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based organization focused on improving the quality of life of citizens residing in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The primary goal of Shifting Gears is to increase the number of low-skilled, low-income Midwestern adults who obtain college-level occupational…

This paper presents Stan Jones' testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. In his testimony, he talks about a new American majority of students that is emerging on campuses, especially at community colleges. These students must delicately balance long hours at jobs they must…

Community colleges have often gotten short shrift on the spectrum of higher education. Their policy of accessibility to all has often relegated them to a lower status than traditional, four-year institutions; and because they offer a wide range of programs, community colleges often defy easy description. But a challenging economy and a shift to…

The United States is addressing unprecedented economic challenges, and community colleges have been identified by the federal government as part of the solution (Lothian, 2009). Unparalleled federal support to community colleges provides these institutions with a tremendous opportunity to influence the trajectory of the country's economy through…

This study examined the current state of online occupational programs in community colleges and explored issues related to institutional, economic, and social indicators that influence (a) the offering of online programs and (b) the programmatic connection to workforce development needs. This project is the first national study that categorizes…

The American Graduation Initiative stands as the cornerstone of the Obama administration's higher education agenda. To investigate the state of the politics of education in the Age of Obama, this article employs critical discourse analysis to unveil the hidden meanings and ideological commitments inherent in Obama's policy discourse. Read within…