The first White House Summit on Community Colleges took place Oct. 5, hosted by Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden at President Barack Obama’s request.  The summit scheduled representatives from communities across the nation, as well as leaders from the private sector and philanthropic organizations.

“[The] summit is an important next step in our efforts to meet the president’s goal of having the best-educated, most competitive workforce in the world by the end of this decade,” Biden said.

The summit addressed six key points: industry partnerships to prepare curriculums and graduates for a competent workforce, transfer options to traditional “four-year” institutions, affordability at a variety of monetary levels, veteran and military support, innovation and change for the future of the institution and methods to increase overall graduation rates. One of the themes of the event was the competition of American education against those of other countries.

“China isn’t slashing education by 20 percent right now.  India is not slashing education by 20 percent,” said Obama. “We are in a fight for the future – a fight that depends on education.”

The summit featured key players from the private and public sectors, including Melinda Gates, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Penny Pritzker of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.  Representatives from community colleges around the nation, including staff and students, were also present.  

The summit explained plans to partner with private institutions to strengthen community colleges across the nation through the recent launch and advocacy of Skills for America’s Future, an Obama initiative aiming to have a stronger, more educated American workforce by 2020.

“The idea is simple:  businesses and community colleges work together to match the work in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom,” Obama said, “And already, businesses from PG&E, to UTC, to the Gap have announced their support.”

The plan and its advisers used the summit as a platform to spearhead the announcement. Additionally, philanthropic organizations had an opportunity to speak at the event as well.

Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and leader of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said, “These [community colleges] are the hidden gems in our society that make society tick, and yet every time there is a talk on colleges … it’s about these elite four-year institutions.”

The Gates Foundation announced Completion by Design, a program designed to improve community college performance by analyzing various techniques around the country and seeing what is working, what isn’t working, and how students can benefit from changes in educational pathways, structures and incentives to perform.

“For millions of Americans, the local community college is the gateway to the American Dream,” said Gates on her foundation’s blog.  “Students who get … credentials can seize opportunities that those who stopped their education with high school can’t.”

The importance of community college and its relevance to American society were the highlight of many key speakers at the event, from current students to national leaders.  For more information, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/communitycollege.