The CUNY Community Colleges Consortium: Workforce Development Transformation through Systems Change

Authors

Daniel Matishek, CUNY Queensborough Community CollegeFollow
Lori Conkling, CUNY Queensborough Community CollegeFollow

Document Type

Case Study

Publication Date

Winter 1-31-2025

Abstract

In 2021, Queensborough Community College (QCC) was awarded a $5 million Strengthening Community Colleges (SCC) Training Grant from the United States Department of Labor to develop and oversee a Consortium of six community colleges – named the CUNY Community Colleges Consortium (CUNYCCC) - within the City University of New York (CUNY), with the goal of transforming the University’s workforce development programs and addressing the needs of unemployed New York City (NYC) residents impacted by Covid-19. CUNYCCC offered participants workforce pathways in the labor sectors of education, technology, and health. Each college enhanced their workforce training programs through a variety of strategies, including:

 virtual and asynchronous pedagogy,

 ongoing faculty and instructor professional development,

 the establishment of articulation agreements in support of credit for prior learning,

 work-based learning opportunities supported through employer partnerships, and

 supportive and wrap-around services.

While each college independently managed their programs, CUNYCCC was structured as a collaborative and was anchored in the regular convening of college representatives, on an almost weekly basis, over the duration of the grant. Through the collaboration, each college was able to share expertise and develop joint strategies for systemic change within and across their schools as well as collectively partner with key employers through a CUNYCCC employer advisory board, academic departments, and other critical allies.

With funding from the Department of Labor through the Strengthening Community Colleges grant, Queensborough Community College was able to successfully bring together a cohort of six community colleges within the City University of New York to create the CUNY Community Colleges Consortium.

Interested readers are encouraged to read the full evaluation report and, equally, reach out to QCC and - through QCC – to the entirety of the Consortium to learn more about their collaborative experience and successes. It was made evident through the evaluation that considerable expertise was built through the grant and that those involved in spearheading this work demonstrate a deep commitment to transforming how workforce training participants are taught and supported in achieving their career and educational goals. Consortium members shared, universally, the belief that through the SCC grant the connections between colleges were made stronger and that they were well positioned, and highly motivated, to sustain these relationships moving forward.

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