Washington State Community College selected as one of five rural community colleges to participate in national BRIDGES initiative

Administrators at Washington State Community College were pleased to hear that their school had been selected to participate in the Building Rural Innovation, Designing Educational Strategies (BRIDGES) initiative. BRIDGES is a national program that brings together five rural community colleges to develop and test strategies that they can employ to lead their communities on a path of economic growth and agility through innovation and collaboration with local leaders. The initiative will be led by Education Design Lab, made possible by a $1.9 million grant from Ascendium Education Group. The core focus of the BRIDGES initiative is to address the needs of rural communities which have struggled economically in recent years.

WSCC was selected through a national search conducted by Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit organization whose work is aimed at innovating education with a learner-centered approach that addresses equity in education. The BRIDGES initiative will specifically address the needs of rural populations as they try to adapt to the changes in the overall economic landscape. In a release from WSCC, Dr. Vicky Wood, President, expressed her thoughts on the initiative, "Washington State is excited for the opportunity to lead transformational change. As a community college, our mission is rooted in providing educational pathways for learners that also support local workforce needs. Through the BRIDGES initiative, we will be able to engage as a thought leader to design new approaches that will take our work to the next level."

The selected colleges will work over the next three years developing, testing, and evaluating approaches to support their rural communities through post-secondary education. At the end of the three years the five colleges will fully implement the most successful approaches and Education Design Lab will publish a brief that can be used by rural colleges across the country to increase their positive impact on local economies. The founder and CEO of Education Design Lab Kathleen deLaski explained in more detail, "This work is about enabling rural community colleges to create innovative approaches focused on the value that these institutions and communities bring to their learners, unlocking greater economic opportunity and agility for the populations they serve. These five community colleges bring a diverse group of core team members to the table, from large national employers, to local chambers and small business development teams. The learnings from this first cohort will pave the way for other rural institutions as they look at building upon the strengths of their communities."