Positioning the Community College for Community Leadership.

The Academy for Community College Leadership Advancement, Innovation, and Modeling (ACCLAIM) at North Carolina State University is working with state comiunity college systems in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia to develop and implement a process that positions the community college to play a major role in resolving community issues. In the ACCLAIM model, community colleges are seen as a moving force in promoting greater collaboration among community-based organizations, formal and informal leaders, and citizens in seeking resolution to major and complex issues. The model consists of a series of tasks: (1) the community college critically examines its mission, philosophy, goals, and structure to assess its readiness to assume the role of a community-based institution; (2) the college increases its knowledge of the social, cultural, economic, and political environments of its service areal (3) the college then establishes a mechanism for scanning its external environment; (4) issues identified by environmental scanning are ranked and confirmed by community leaders; (5) the college analyzes, identifies, and maps the publics within its service region directly affected by each issue; (6) the college initiates dialogue and forms a coalition among community leaders and other stakeholders in a given issue; (7) the college leads the coalition in developing, coordinating, carrying out, and evaluating a plan for addressing the community problem; (8) coalition leaders report to their respective constituencies on progress and results; and (9) the plan elements to which the college has committed resources must be incorporated into the college's planning and budgeting processes. If a new issue emerges, the process begins anew.