We Need More Bottom-Up Efforts to Build Workforce Capacity at Community Colleges
In The News Piece in Work Shift
Scott Community College in Davenport, Iowa. (Photo via Creative Commons)
June 25, 2025
Shalin Jyotishi argues for a bottom-up approach to building workforce capacity at community colleges in a new piece for Work Shift.
Community colleges have a well-earned reputation as affordable, accessible, and student- and employer-centered destinations for practical job training, but the sector is not a monolith.
Because of years of chronic underinvestment and policy frameworks that prioritize degree completion or transfer pathways to universities, many community colleges have capacity gaps when it comes to some of the most promising workforce practices, including quality nondegree credentials, apprenticeships, bootcamps, work-based learning, and high school programs that include career and technical education.
Read more here.