This is the most important work we can be doing collaboratively across higher education. Black, Indigenous and students of color have been waiting far too long for higher education to prioritize their needs and experiences. I am honored to work with likeminded peers to advance systemic change on their behalf.

We can’t educate and train our way to racial economic equity. The education and workforce establishments are key to unlocking the potential of postsecondary education to address centuries of structural economic advantage for White Americans. Our educational institutions must do more to disrupt occupational segregation by not just increasing access, but also focusing on the success of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous learners and workers in education and training pathways associated with high wages.

Bold action with a sense of urgency has been the mindset for the leaders within the Higher Ed Equity Network. The work ahead will require our collective efforts and resources to bring forward new ideas, information, and strategies to achieve our collective vision. Our journey as a network will greatly benefit for our institutions, our nation, and most important our college students.

As we continue to advocate for the value of a college credential, it is now critical for higher education to deliver courses, programs, and services in new and more responsive ways. Changing our business models, policies, and practices will be hard but necessary, and it will require a commitment from the entire higher education community and its partners to provide the experiences that students deserve. I am excited to be working with the Higher Education Equity Network to address some of higher education’s most difficult challenges and I look forward to what we will accomplish together.

AACC will be a bold leader in creating a nation where all have access to the learning needed to participate productively in their communities and in the economy. Through AACC’s leadership, community colleges will increasingly be recognized as the gateway to the American dream—the learning resource needed to sustain America’s economic viability and productivity

I have full faith in the quintessential American promise: that someone who grows up in poverty – with ambition and some opportunity – can do great things and contribute to forming a more perfect union. Higher Education is the opportunity that makes this promise possible.”

Participating in the Higher Ed Equity Network (HEEN) is an opportunity to coalesce and align with partners with whom my organization, Complete College America, has been seeking an opportunity to work, but in our mutual busy-ness, the effort has sometimes gotten delayed. HEEN consists of a group of passionate advocates and leaders who understand that we can go farther together than alone. CCA clearly understands that we cannot achieve equity in higher education (at scale) without concentrated, concerted and strategic efforts toward this end.

APLU is committed to a more equitable future for all students especially those who have not been justly treated in the current system. We believe the network, through a shared vision of policy change, advocacy, and practice improvements, can support overdue change at institutions and for our students. It is a great opportunity to be part of network that together will do this work.

We know that not only is higher education a pathway to a better living and a better life for individuals and their families, it has society-wide value as well. Now more than ever, we must make good on the promise of higher education and ensure that all students, regardless of race, background, or circumstance, have the opportunity to reach their full potential by participating and succeeding in higher education.