Practitioner Insights for Recovery: Five Reasons Why Community Colleges Are Key to Our COVID-19 Recovery

In March, the world changed. COVID-19 hit the nation, impacting the health, economic security, and way of life of many Americans. Education also was severely disrupted. College students across the country went home and transitioned to remote learning. Meanwhile, institutions of higher education went through their own period of adjustment, preparing faculty for the transition to online education and making sure students had the resources they needed to succeed in the new environment. Community colleges have always been leaders in crisis response. Because they emphasize affordability, flexible education delivery, and connections to regional economies, community colleges are well positioned to help Americans access postsecondary education and prepare them for work. That is why, especially in times of economic downturn, government, communities, and families ought to look to community colleges as engines of recovery. In this report, community college practitioners serving on JFF's Policy Leadership Trust offer five reasons why community colleges are the right choice at this time and why investments and policies that support the nation's institutions are essential to combatting the public health and economic crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. [This report was written by JFF's Policy Leadership Trust.]