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Discussion Paper
Results From the Survey of Community College Outcomes Extended Pilot
After three years of developing partnerships with community colleges across the Fifth District, we are proud to release our first-year results from our extended pilot of the Survey of Community College Outcomes.When the Richmond Fed launched this initiative, the most common question we heard from community colleges was, "Why does the Richmond Fed care about community colleges?" The answer is that the Richmond Fed cares about workforce development, and community colleges play a vital role across the Fifth District providing individuals with the skills needed to participate in the workforce.
Discussion Paper
Non-Credit Workforce Programs at Community Colleges
Community colleges differ from four-year institutions in key ways, including how programs are distributed across credit and non-credit academic divisions. While nearly all enrolled students at four-year institutions are in for-credit programs, community college students are much more likely to be in non-credit programs, which are shorter in term and typically focus on skills and credentials that are tied to specific occupations.A growing number of community college students are enrolled in non-credit programs across the Fifth District, but traditional data sources do not capture information ...
Journal Article
District Digest: Community Colleges as Anchor Institutions in Rural Areas
The Fifth Federal Reserve District — comprising Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, most of West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. — is home to 122 public two-year institutions that have a wide range of both traditional academic and technical programs. More than half of these community colleges are located in rural counties. The 66 rural community colleges, like the private and public four-year institutions of higher education in rural areas, play an anchor institution role in their communities. But this role is not always accounted for in the formulas that federal, state, ...
Discussion Paper
Student Parents: The Power of Wraparound Supports
Many community college students juggle work and family responsibilities alongside their academic pursuits. Wraparound services — such as transportation assistance, child care, mental health counseling and housing — help students meet their non-academic needs, which improves colleges' retention and completion rates. These services also attract adult learners, a key population of community college students.As we have written about previously, funding wraparound services is complicated. Community colleges rely heavily on local, state, and federal funding for their academic programs, but this ...
Discussion Paper
Second-Chance Hiring: Fifth District Efforts to Improve Post-Incarceration Outcomes
In the current economy, where job postings significantly exceed the number of people actively seeking employment, previously incarcerated individuals represent an important source of labor that both states and institutions are increasingly interested in engaging. Successfully implementing second-chance hiring initiatives, in which companies hire individuals with criminal records, can help improve outcomes for previously incarcerated individuals, the companies they work for, and their communities.
Journal Article
Male Labor Force Participation: Patterns and Trends
Discussion Paper
A New Endeavor: Introducing the Fifth District Survey of Community College Outcomes
Community colleges play a major role in workforce and economic development in communities across the Fifth District. Their responsibility for educating and connecting individuals to jobs means that understanding their outcomes is important to how we think about our best path to maximum employment and sustainable economic growth.
Discussion Paper
Unemployment Benefits and Changes under the CARES Act
As part of the U.S. response to COVID-19, unemployment insurance recipients are receiving increased weekly payments. For many individuals in the Fifth District, these enhanced unemployment benefits are greater than the wages they earned while at work.