Supporting California Community College Leaders to Advance Access, Success, and Support

WestEd partnered with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to facilitate eight Regional Consortium Vision 2030 Convenings—bringing together leaders, faculty, and partners from six community college districts to co-design actionable strategies that advance Equity in Access, Equity in Success, and Equity in Support across the region.

The Challenge

California’s community colleges serve 2.1 million students and are the state’s primary engine of social and economic mobility—yet 6.8 million Californians between the ages of 25 and 54 hold a high school diploma without a postsecondary credential. This group is disproportionately low-income, highly racialized, and locked out of family-sustaining wages. Vision 2030: A Roadmap for California Community Colleges (2023, updated July 2025) sets a bold statewide agenda: shift from waiting for students to come to colleges, to actively taking college to learners wherever they are—through dual enrollment, credit for prior learning (CPL), work-based learning, and flexible instruction modalities.

Translating this systemwide vision into regional action requires structured, facilitated planning. As part of the 2024-25 Vision 2030 initiative, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office commissioned WestEd to facilitate eight Regional Convenings to support strategic implementation. The Regional Consortia utilized the convenings to help leaders, faculty, classified professionals, and education partners from their community college districts to surface shared regional challenges, develop locally grounded strategies, and align on concrete next steps.

Specifically, the regions focused on:

  • Operationalizing Vision 2030’s three goals—Equity in Access, Equity in Success, and Equity in Support—within a regional context shaped by diverse communities, labor markets, and institutional capacities
  • Identifying barriers impeding implementation across six priority areas: dual enrollment and K–12 pathways; career education, workforce readiness, and work-based learning; credit for prior learning and noncredit-to-credit transitions; access, enrollment, and adult learners; equity in student support and financial aid; and transfer and completion pathways
  • Aligning on implementation priorities that reflect Vision 2030’s strategic directions—equitable baccalaureate attainment, equitable workforce and economic development, and the responsible integration of generative AI and emerging technologies
  • Building cross-district connections and shared ownership of regional progress toward the statewide goal of 70% of working-aged Californians earning a postsecondary credential by 2030

How We’re Taking Action

WestEd facilitated the Regional Consortium Vision 2030 Regional Convening on December 4–5, 2025—one of eight regional convenings commissioned by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office as part of the 2024–25 Vision 2030 implementation initiative. Representatives from Grossmont-Cuyamaca CCD, Imperial CCD, MiraCosta CCD, Palomar CCD, San Diego CCD, and Southwestern CCD participated in structured planning, regional presentations, and collaborative strategy work aligned to the July 2025 Edition of Vision 2030.

The two-day convening was designed around Vision 2030’s core framework. General sessions explored regional infrastructure for dual and early college credit, employer engagement and apprenticeship, work-based learning, Educational Regional Liaisons and Industry-Recognized Credentials, career services, and data and innovation efforts from the Centers of Excellence. The convening also included a labor and workforce fireside discussion and a cross-sector regional partnership panel, grounded in real workforce conditions. Real-time graphic recording by artist Trent Wakenight (Marker Ninja) captured key themes as they emerged.

Participants engaged with District and College Strategy Boards to identify regional strategies and challenges across six Vision 2030-aligned priority areas:

  • Dual Enrollment & K–12 Pathways – Expanding College and Career Access Pathways agreements, structured programs, parent liaison roles, and middle school outreach, aligned with Vision 2030’s strategy that targets ninth graders to ensure all California high school students graduate with at least 12 dual enrollment units
  • Career Education, Workforce Readiness & Work-Based Learning – Growing internships, paid work-based learning, apprenticeships, and industry-aligned advisory boards in support of Vision 2030’s equitable workforce and economic development strategic direction
  • Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) & Noncredit-to-Credit Transitions – Expanding CPL pathways for veterans, working adults, and industry credential holders—a Vision 2030 Demonstration Project and critical lever for socioeconomic mobility
  • Access, Enrollment & Adult Learners – Redesigning intake processes and expanding flexible scheduling to reach the 6.8 million California adults without a postsecondary credential that Vision 2030 prioritizes
  • Equity in Student Support & Financial Aid – Improving FAFSA outreach, financial aid literacy, early alert systems, and culturally responsive services in support of Vision 2030’s Equity in Support goal
  • Transfer & Completion Pathways – Strengthening cohort models, reducing excess units, and expanding zero-textbook-cost offerings in service of Vision 2030’s 30% completion benchmark by 2030

Across all sessions, five overarching themes emerged: 

  • The regional need for shared and timely data to drive equity-focused decisions;
  • Readiness to responsibly integrate generative AI and modernize legacy systems (consistent with Vision 2030’s HUMANS-centered AI principles);
  • The urgency of scaling CPL, noncredit, and work-based learning as underutilized pathways;
  • The importance of stronger K–12 and intersegmental alignment; and
  • The need for sustained funding, staffing, and technical assistance to move Vision 2030 from planning into action.

WestEd synthesized all convening contributions—from general sessions, strategy boards, breakout discussions, and participant evaluations—into a comprehensive Summary Report. The report captures strategies, challenges, project ideas, technical assistance needs, professional development priorities, and evaluation feedback, and is designed to serve as a living planning tool for districts and the Chancellor’s Office as regional Vision 2030 implementation continues.

Resources

As a local government representative — the networking and relationship opportunity with community college staff but also other regional workforce organizations was PRICELESS! The sessions felt meaningful and resonated with all of the attendees (both community colleges, and other agencies and organizations).

Energy Program Manager

What Makes Us Different

  • Bridging statewide vision and regional action – WestEd translates the Vision 2030 framework—its three equity goals, three strategic directions, and statewide benchmarks—into regionally grounded planning. Our convening design connects big-picture accountability metrics to the specific workforce conditions, student populations, and institutional capacities of each region.
  • Equity-centered, student-focused process design – Our facilitation keeps historically underserved populations—adult learners, dual enrollment students, veterans, foster youth, and low-income workers of color—at the center of every planning conversation, consistent with Vision 2030’s core commitment that no student should be disaffected or left behind.
  • Actionable synthesis that sustains implementation – WestEd delivers structured, ready-to-use outputs—strategy frameworks, project ideas, technical assistance priorities, and evaluation findings—that give colleges and the Chancellor’s Office the tools to keep implementation moving between convenings and toward the 2030 benchmarks.