Thank you to the hundreds of residents who participated in our Community Educational Priorities Survey earlier this year. Your input into our State Center Vision 2035 greatly appreciated. Your feedback is important to us and we want to continue this important community conversation.

For more information regarding District facilities and the integrated planning process, please visit State Center Vision 2035.

Our local community colleges proudly serve local students and families who rely on us for the affordable quality education we provide. Because the University of California and California State Systems have become so expensive, more students rely on local community colleges for their education. We must continue to increase opportunities for local students to earn college credits, certifications and job skills at a reasonable price and then transfer to a four-year university to complete their degrees.

The community has also told us they value the training and support our colleges provide for students to get the skills and training needed to compete for good-paying jobs in today’s competitive global economy. To continue to provide these programs it is necessary to improve classrooms, labs, and equipment for career education programs to train local police officers and firefighters and for careers in nursing, engineering, agriculture, technology, advanced manufacturing, and other in-demand jobs.

The survey conducted also assessed the public’s higher education priorities. The top community priorities included:

Local community colleges are also where our area’s nurses, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and 911 emergency responders are trained. By expanding the Police and Firefighter Academies and improving healthcare education programs our local colleges can increase access to these programs and ensure our local area has the well-trained first-responders needed to keep communities safe.