Investments that build capacity in the community college system must make sense as a whole, across the system, and must also be relevant to the region in which the community college is located.  

Metro Boston’s community colleges operate independently with support, guidance, and oversight from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.  While there is no formal community college “system,” there are several regional consortia of public higher education institutions, such as EdLink in Northeastern Massachusetts and Connect in Southeastern Massachusetts.  These collaborations are positioned to link curriculum development at institutions of public higher education with current industry needs provide the institutions with the ability to coordinate their work.  

Massachusetts has a much less centralized community college system than do other states.  For example, the North Carolina Community College System comprises 58 community colleges operating under the direction of one president.  The system has a well-defined mission to provide workforce development, adult basic education, and literacy education, as part of a statewide pre-K-through-university education strategy.  The state provides access to $20 million of funds for workforce training annually.

While a fully centralized system may not be appropriate or feasible for Massachusetts or Metro Boston, greater coordination can be achieved by expanding the reach of existing regional consortia or creating new ones. 

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