Transforming America's Community Colleges: A Federal Policy Proposal to Expand Opportunity and Promote Economic Prosperity

This May 2009 policy brief from the Brookings Institution's Blueprint for American Prosperity series offers policy suggestions on how the federal government might reinvest in community colleges across the nation. The brief offers a number of concrete suggestions for the federal government, including the recommendation that they should establish national postsecondary goals and also devote a significant portion of existing funding to improve and evaluate teaching practices in these institutions. These recommendations offer a possible window to the future of community colleges.

http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_community_college_brief.pdf

Higher Education and Community Research Partnerships

More and more organizations have become interested in partnerships forged between institutions of higher education and local community-based organizations. Released in late 2003, this 48-page report from the Pew Partnership for Civic Change investigated university-community research partnerships at 19 sites around the United States. Some of these community organizations included groups working in the areas of job training, commercial revitalization, youth mentoring, and job transportation. This report contains a variety of examples for possible future projects at the college.

http://www.pew-partnership.org/pdf/university_and_community.pdf

Monmouth County Profile 2009

The Monmouth County Planning Board's 2009 profile provides a concise, current overview of Monmouth County with accompanying statistics. Brookdale is discussed on page 18 of this report:

"For the past three years, Brookdale Community College has achieved its
fastest rate of growth, currently serving over 15,000 full and part-time
students. The American Council on Education reports that approximately
one out of three Monmouth County high school students chooses to attend
Brookdale Community College, with annual enrollment expected to
increase 2.5% through 2011. "

Click below to read the full report.

http://co.monmouth.nj.us/documents/24/2009%20Profile.pdf