The present study sought to explore the relationship between a community's characteristics and the local community college. Founded with the objective of serving the needs of their local communities, community colleges provide an important access point to postsecondary education for a variety of groups, including students from low-income backgrounds, first generation college students, returning adult students, and displaced workers. To date, there is a wealth of research on how institutions of higher education engage with their local communities, but the majority of the literature is focused on well-endowed four-year institutions. In addition, the current literature only examines one direction of influence: how institutions affect their communities. The present study attempts to close that gap by exploring the converse pathway of how communities influence an institution. Situated in the broader context of systems theory, this study utilized Bronfenbrenner's ecological system as a framework to study the relationship between community characteristics and metrics of community college success. Community characteristics were measured using data from the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Metrics of community college success were measured using data from the National Center for Education Statistics' College Scorecard. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and logistic regression. Results indicated that certain community characteristics are related to certain indicators of community college success. This information should be used by community college leaders in order to make decisions and develop policies in alignment with the needs of their surrounding communities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]