Hudson County Community College Strengthens Its Commitment to Student Success; Joins Achieving the Dream National Network

February 1, 2019

SILVER SPRING, MD (February 1, 2019) – Four colleges from four states have strengthened their commitment to improving student success by becoming among the first institutions to join the 2019 Cohort of the Achieving the Dream (ATD) National Network. Achieving the Dream leads a growing network of community colleges across America committed to helping their students – particularly low-income students and students of color – achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity.

The following colleges are among the first to join the ATD Network for 2019:

College of Lake County (IL)
Hudson County Community College (NJ)
Pitt Community College (NC)
Sacramento City College (CA)

“We are pleased to welcome these four outstanding institutions into our Network. Colleges like these, that join the ATD Network, show an exceptional commitment to becoming the kind of institution that will lead the nation into the future,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “We look forward to having other colleges join them as we continue to build a strong 2019 Cohort.”

“I worked with ATD in a previous community college presidency and know first-hand how effective it can be in partnering with colleges to employ data and best practices in the work of ensuring successful outcomes for students,” said Hudson County Community College President Dr. Chris Reber. “The entire HCCC community is proud to join the 2019 cohort of new ATD member colleges, and we look forward to working with the ATD community college network and team.”

Teams from each of the four colleges will join teams from the 2019 cohort at the annual three-day experience ATD Kickoff Institute, which includes an introduction to ATD’s capacity-building framework and companion Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (ICAT), which enables colleges to pinpoint their strengths and areas for improvement.

During the Kickoff event, college teams will begin to organize their student success work for the year, including preparing for their on-campus launch in the fall. They will receive an in-depth orientation to ATD and how to leverage the power of ATD’s national Network. Each college team will also meet their Leadership Coach and Data Coach. Coaches are community college leaders who are carefully matched with each institution to provide personalized advice and guidance to build needed capacities, align student success efforts, and to support change where it is needed. Achieving the Dream will announce groups of colleges throughout the spring and will announce the full 2019 Cohort in advance of the Kickoff Institute in June.

About Achieving the Dream
Achieving the Dream (ATD) leads a growing network of more than 220 community colleges committed to helping their students, particularly low-income students and students of color, achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity. ATD is making progress in closing academic achievement gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities in seven essential areas. ATD, along with nearly 75 experienced coaches and advisors, works closely with Network colleges in 41 states and the District of Columbia to reach more than 4 million community college students.