Education Forum Focuses on Foster Youth

The Great Expectations initiative gets a big boost Sept. 13 from visits from two huge advocates for foster care youth —  Virginia’s First Lady Anne Holton and best-selling author Andrew Bridge (Hope’s Boy).

They’ll be participating in an Education Forum with area foster youth, representatives from Social Services agencies, and Great Expectations advocates from Virginia’s Community Colleges on Saturday morning in an event that’s free and open to the general public (register here). The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

Foster youth will get a chance to talk to the First Lady and the best selling author during the forum.  Andrew Bridge spent 11 years in Los Angeles County foster care, and his book chronicles his experiences. He’ll also be signing copies of this book.

Virginia has 8,000 children in foster care, and among the worst records in providing permanent family support for those who age out of the foster care system.

The Education Forum provides some “focus” for the difficult issues surrounding foster youth, and Virginia’s Community Colleges are working to help them get the education and support they need to succeed.

Enrollment, interest increases in community college in tough economy

There’s a wire story appearing in news outlets across the continent this week noting that community colleges are at record enrollments – due to a tough economy. Written by Richmond’s Zinie Chen Sampson, the story features a Mathews family who has decided that Rappahannock Community College is a better alternative for the first two years of college.

Whitney Daniels and her mom are appearing on the websites of print and tv media from here to Anchorage, Los Angeles and Amarillo, in a week when political news otherwise dominates the newswaves.

And other local media folks are picking up on it, too, as students start back to school in record numbers at Virginia’s Community Colleges.

In the Roanoke region, WSET in Lynchburg notes Virginia Western’s enrollment is at record levels, with student seeking an affordable education.

WVIR in Charlottesville quotes students as saying it just makes more sense to start out at the community college.  There are “just a lot of opportunities…to come here, save money and do a two year degree program and then transfer to the school I want to go to,” says one student. “It’s just a whole lot easier to come here,” says another.

Of course the underlying theme is that the economy is weak, pushing demand for community college classes higher — just at a time when Virginia, along with many other states, faces shrinking budgets and may have to cut back on services.

Community colleges provide opportunities that deserve ocean-to-ocean news coverage. It’s too bad it takes budget cuts and weak economies to bring that to the limelight.

– Posted by Susan Hayden

Student success comes in many flavors

Student success can mean many things to community college students.

It can mean finally earning a degree after years of juggling classes, work and parenting.

It can mean finding the local community college is the best opportunity for transfer to a four-year institution — right in the students’ backyard.

It can mean learning that college is a real possibility — after a high school career that headed a different direction and didn’t include all of the prerequisites for college success.

Virginia’s Community Colleges, along with several other founding member states in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative, is working to expand traditional definitions of student success to be more reflective of the community college mission.

In a Student Success snapshot, we’re looking at success that includes transferring to another college and staying enrolled — in addition to earning a degree or certificate.

The door is open. There’s always another chance to get started.