WHAT

Campus Compact has funded nine community colleges in Florida, Ohio, and Washington to run Connect2Complete (C2C) pilot programs and funded the three related state Compact affiliates to support these pilots. These programs will engage more than 4,500 low-income students who are enrolled in developmental education courses and who experience significant barriers to obtaining postsecondary credentials. Through peer-to-peer advocacy and community engaged-learning opportunities, students will be supported in their goals of achieving academic success and credential completion and will be more engaged with their peers, the community college, and the broader community.

Campus Compact, together with the pilot sites and our partner evaluators at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, will use data and evidence from the pilot projects to support identification of the essential elements necessary to codify a peer-to-peer model. Statewide learning communities coordinated by the Florida, Ohio, and Washington state affiliate, along with a national learning community organized by Campus Compact will support the development and dissemination of this knowledge.

HOW

Each community college is testing unique peer-to-peer advocacy models that reflect the culture of their campus while incentivizing participation by peer advocates through one of the following mechanisms:

Peer advocates will work alongside faculty in developmental education classes, individually, in cohorts, and through social media platforms to support students in setting goals, making connections to college life, achieving academic success, navigating college systems, and linking to college services designed to help students be successful. Students will participate in community-engaged learning activities in conjunction with developmental education courses, credit-bearing leadership development courses for peer advocates, and through projects coordinated by peer advocates and campus community engagement offices.

WHO

• Florida

  • Florida Campus Compact
  • Broward College
  • Miami Dade College
  • Tallahassee Community College
• Ohio

  • Ohio Campus Compact
  • Cuyahoga Community College
  • Lorain County Community College
  • Owens State Community College
• Washington

  • Washington Campus Compact
  • Big Bend Community College
  • Edmonds Community College
  • Green River Community College

WHY

Peer advocacy: Students themselves are an incredibly under-utilized community college resource, and there exists an opportunity and a need to engage them.  Mobilizing successful students in support of other students who face obstacles to completion, increases retention and engagement for both the student advocate and the mentee  (Crisp, 2010).

Community-engaged learning: Students who participate in community-engaged learning activities demonstrate improved academic knowledge, critical thinking, and leadership skills, and show increased interest in becoming personally and professionally involved in community change work. The ultimate result is helping students become critically, civically, and globally minded graduates who can advocate for change in their communities and contribute to building a healthy democracy.  Students involved in community engagement are also more likely to reach their goal of college graduation (Campus Compact, 2010).

WHEN