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• EVENTS & CONFERENCE

Lynn Barnett with MDC, Inc. is the Autry Award recipient for that conference.

The 2007 RCCA Conference was
held in Albuquerque, NM.

Steve Katsinas was presented the The George Autry Award at the 2006 Lexington Conference

The 2006 RCCA Conference was
held in Lexington, KN.
Conference Agenda - Keynote Speaker:
Robert Zemsky

The 2005 RCCA/RCCI Conference was held in Duluth, MN. Selected Keynote Presentation, Many Voices - One Word and Conference Program.

The 2004 RCCA conference was held in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Selected Keynote Presentation.

The 2003 RCCA conference was held in San Antonio, TX.  Selected workshop presentations are available online.

The 2002 RCCA Conference was held in Memphis, TN.  Selected workshop presentations are available online.

  


• NEWS AND RESOURCES

RCCA Policy Agenda

The RCCA seeks to promote federal and state policies that will position and fund rural community colleges as catalysts and coordinators of community development leading to sustainable regional economies. 

That goal is based on the conviction that rural community colleges offer a unique, place-based capacity to engage rural people, institutions and communities in the process of building and sustaining better places to live, learn, work, and grow.  RCCA seeks formal recognition -- in federal and state policies and practices -- of the significant role community colleges play in workforce training and community economic development. 

Read the full statement of goals, principles and strategies, developed by RCCA's Policy, Research and Advocacy Committee.

Newsletter Winter 2005 PDF

New Phase of RCCI

The Ford Foundation is supporting a new, four-year phase of the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI), intended to spread RCCI philosophy and practices to additional rural community and tribal colleges.  The program is managed by the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) at Mississippi State University and the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) at Iowa State University.  The two centers are involving land grant universities as partners to provide technical assistance and support to local RCCI sites. 

16 community and tribal colleges are participating in RCCI during 2003-04.  They are located in Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Texas. 

For more information on the current RCCI program, see the websites of SRDC and NCRCRD.

Community Colleges and Rural Development

Revitalizing Rural Communities:  Lessons from the RCCI presents experiences from the Rural Community College Initiative that can inform other rural community development efforts. It is designed to inspire rural development efforts by community colleges; inform practitioners, funders, and policymakers; and support the future work of RCCI sites to use in development and sustainability efforts. It is available online at http://www.mdcinc.org/pdfs/rccilessons.pdf