Like so many of you, we at Complete College America have launched into 2018 with a renewed sense of purpose and a reaffirmed commitment to helping all students achieve their dreams. On the heels of our Annual Convening in New Orleans – our largest event to date – and with our tenth anniversary on the horizon, I want to take the opportunity to share with you some exciting changes ahead.
First, I am pleased to announce that I will continue the important work of growing our Alliance and integrating implementation of our Game Changer strategies into the Momentum Pathways structure under a new title, Senior Vice President for the Alliance. I am thrilled by this opportunity and look forward to working even more closely with Bruce Vandal, our Senior Vice President for Implementation, to further strengthen the combination of advocacy and scaling support that makes CCA so unique.
Next, to our Alliance members, let me say this: Get ready to see more of us. We asked if you wanted more face-to-face time with our staff and content experts, and the response was overwhelming. In addition to our quarterly check-in calls with Alliance teams, we are going to increase the number of in-state visits per year, devoting more of our resources to giving you the in-person technical assistance that will help drive efforts in your states, cities and institutions.
As we shift how we deliver support to our Alliance, we will also be redesigning our annual meetings. We requested feedback from the more than 700 higher education leaders and advocates who attended our recent Annual Convening, and we got it. The message was loud and clear: You’ve bought into the Game Changers, and you’re ready to do the work. You don’t need more convincing, you need support getting the work done.
You asked for shorter plenaries and more time focused on the actionable steps that you can take back to your states and institutions. And that’s exactly what we are going to provide. This year, we will incorporate the best elements of the Summer Action Summit – deeper dives into team planning and implementation – into the Annual Convening by merging the two events. You can expect more concurrent sessions, more dedicated time for teams to interact with content experts and with each other and more focus on building the interventions that eliminate achievement gaps and boost college completion rates. We will redirect the resources we previously used for the Summer meeting into the ongoing, on-demand in-state support you have requested.
By now, you will have received an official save-the-date for the 2018 Annual Convening entitled IMPACT on December 4-6; an agenda and registration details will follow. The 2018 event will be laser-focused on the results being achieved around the country and will provide a venue for you – the impatient reformers and advocates of this movement – to share successes and strategies for scaling this work.
Over the last nine years, CCA has brought national attention to the college completion crisis. We’ve developed our Game Changers strategies, created Scaling Standards for implementation, and designed the Momentum Pathways framework. We’ve grown our Alliance to its current 44 members and focused in on the important work of eliminating achievement gaps. We know that all of our efforts to disrupt the status quo are making a measurable difference. We know that with you, we are having a positive impact on the lives of students. Now it’s time to show it.
Let’s continue to lead the charge in 2018!
