Kalamazoo Valley Community College joins Achieving the Dream network

Kalamazoo Valley Community College has joined the 2025 cohort of the Achieving the Dream network. Achieving the Dream aims to make community colleges accessible to more individuals and to help community colleges become hubs of education and upward economic mobility. Kalamazoo Valley Community College is one of nine colleges to join the 2025 cohort.

According to an article on Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s website, Dr. Karen A. Stout, the president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, was quoted as saying of the new colleges joining the initiative, "We are honored to welcome these nine colleges into the ATD Network. By joining Foundations of Transformation, these institutions are taking an ambitious step to redesign systems, structures, and cultures to support their students more holistically. Their commitment signals not only a deep investment in student success but also in the long-term resilience and vibrancy of the communities they serve. ATD looks forward to walking alongside these colleges as they forge a bold path forward."

More than 300 community colleges nationwide are part of Achieving the Dream. According to the website for the initiative, it “drive[s] Transformation across the higher education field through research, advocacy, and partnerships, empowering college leaders to redesign systems that truly support students. By exploring new ideas and championing equitable solutions, [Achieving the Dream] equip[s] institutions to transform and shape lasting, meaningful change.” The initiative focuses on innovation and helping community colleges learn and to take and shape ideas from each other.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College joined the Foundations of Transformation opportunity, which is a three-year program that will help the college increase its capacity and its student success. The college participated in the Kickoff Institute welcome event in Charlotte, North Carolina in June to help introduce the concepts of the Institutional Capacity Framework, which includes Leadership & Commitment, Data Empowerment, Educational Excellence, Organizational Agility, Digital Transformation, Disciplined Implementation, and Community Connectedness.

L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D., the president of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, said, "Joining ATD represents a transformative opportunity to accelerate our vision of creating innovative and equitable opportunities for all students. We're ready to deepen our data-informed approach and build institutional capacity that empowers every student to learn, grow and thrive.”

For more information about Kalamazoo Valley Community College, visit the school’s website.