Education and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are important in a global economy increasingly focused on high-growth, technology-driven occupations. Yet, many states face a shortage of STEM-skilled students and workers. A number of states have built powerful and productive STEM education and skills strategies to address these shortages. As highlighted in this Issue Brief, community colleges can play an important role in governor-led statewide STEM initiatives. These institutions provide affordable, accessible postsecondary options. They also are often less bureaucratic, which allows them to respond to rapidly changing economic and workforce needs and meet the demands of the local labor market. Governors can exercise their leverage over community colleges to target policies and funding in ways that bolster STEM education and STEM-related workforce skill development. Specifically, governors can: (1) Engage business to help ensure that community colleges meet regional STEM-skill needs; (2) Use community colleges to support new models of STEM education; (3) Reward community colleges and students for STEM course-completion; (4) Ensure that community colleges support more effective mathematics remediation; and (5) Require that community college STEM credits and credentials are transferable and stackable. In addition to describing the need for STEM skills across states and the role community colleges can play in meeting this need, this Issue Brief highlights pockets of excellence across a number of community college STEM skill development programs. (Contains 35 endnotes.)