Appendix: Engagement Communities

The PTAC has identified communities of engagement and provides here the rationale for the baseline for each of those relationships.

Students

Students: The PTAC suggests engagements that include regular focus groups with all MC students to:

• Understand students’ needs—both credit students and WDCE students—their connectivity to the College, their academic/workplace/learner goals, and needed support systems.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and collaboration to accomplish the mission of the College and serve the needs of all students.

Alumni Association and Alumni: Connections with alumni help to build bridges from the past to the present and into the future. As ambassadors of the MC mission and the students that MC serves, the Alumni Association and alumni provide invaluable support as mentors to current students, donors, and possible future employers. The PTAC suggests engagement with alumni to:

• Support the lifelong relationship, connecting alumni with each other and the College.
• Encourage alumni to support the College’s mission through legislative advocacy.
• Highlight the success of alumni to demonstrate the impact of an MC education, which has the potential to positively impact both enrollment and retention.

Community

Community Leaders: Community leaders are representatives of the county’s various constituencies, which include, but are not limited to, ethnic, racial, and faith-based groups and organizations. The PTAC suggests engagements with community leaders who can help to:

• Advance the mission of the College through engagement and possible partnerships.
• Learn how the College, its students and graduates, can engage with and support the efforts of these community leaders.
• Support and advocate for the needs of the College.
• Support and advance the College’s diversity, equity, radical inclusion, social justice, and antiracism mission by engaging those in historically marginalized communities.

Elected Officials: The PTAC suggests engagements with those who have jurisdiction and/or oversight authority over MC to:

• Advance MC’s mission, discuss the needs of students, the rationale for the mission, and the direction of the College.
• Obtain commitments for resources and support, and achieve public policy goals.

Local and Regional Business Leaders: The PTAC suggests engagements with those who lead business organizations to:

• Raise awareness among business leaders of the value that MC students can bring to the workforce through experiential learning and potential apprenticeship programs.
• Encourage participation in MC job fairs.
• Create customized workforce training for their employees.
• Familiarize Dr. Williams with members of the chambers of commerce in the county and region to forge strong relationships.
• Work together to close workforce shortages and develop more career pathways, through both degree programs and workforce development programs.
• Continue existing partnerships and establish new ones, which could generate revenue, philanthropy, and scholarships.

Nonprofit Organizations and Community-based Organizations: The PTAC suggests engagements with leaders of nonprofits and community-based organizations to:

• Learn the roles these organizations play in providing supportive services and asset building efforts for MC student success in their educational and economic paths.
• Communicate with these organizations how they can also benefit from the skills of MC students and graduates.
• Identify which organizations can serve as thought-partners as MC contemplates expansion into the East County.
• Better understand the needs of the community, the targeted services needed, and how the College can provide support and build/enhance partnerships.
• Establish and advocate for enhanced and improved wraparound support services for students.

Statewide Education Leaders: PTAC suggests engagements include statewide community college and university presidents, and leaders of Montgomery County Public Schools—including PTA leadership—and the University at Shady Grove leadership to:

• Build awareness for K–12 students and parents related to the College mission and offerings.
• Advance MC’s mission, discuss the needs of students, the rationale for the mission, and the direction of the College.
• Obtain commitments for resources and support.
• Work together to achieve the shared goals for all community colleges in Maryland.

College Employees

Faculty: The PTAC suggests engagements with all faculty to:

• Ensure the entire faculty workforce feels heard, supported, and engaged—this includes full-time faculty, part-time faculty, WDCE faculty, and those teaching weekends and evenings.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and collaboration to accomplish the mission of the College, serve the needs of all students and faculty, and help make MC a destination employer.

Staff: The PTAC suggests engagements with all MC staff members to:

• Ensure the entire staff workforce feels heard, supported, and engaged—this includes staff who work on weekends and evenings, and non-native English-speaking employees.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and collaboration to accomplish the mission of the College, serve the needs of all students and staff, and help make MC a destination employer.

Administrators: The PTAC suggests engagements with all administrators to:

• Ensure the entire administrator workforce feels heard, supported, and engaged.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and collaboration to accomplish the mission of the College, serve the needs of all students and administrators, and help make MC a destination employer.

Governance: The PTAC suggests engagements with all MC governance councils to:

• Ensure the councils feel heard, supported, and engaged.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and collaboration to accomplish the mission of the College; and serve the needs of all stakeholders.

Collective Bargaining Units: The PTAC suggests engagements with collective bargaining units to:

• Assure lines of communication are open between bargaining leaders and the College’s senior leadership.
• Foster a culture of collaboration that advances the mission of the College, supports student success, and tends to the professional and employment needs of the bargaining unit members.

College Supporters and Support Organizations

Donors: College presidents play a significant role in assuring donors they are making a difference with their philanthropy. The PTAC suggests engagement to:

• Share student success stories about scholarship recipients directly with donors, demonstrating how donors’ gifts impact students’ lives in meaningful ways, as well as how their support contributes to economic development.
• Create connections between the president and donors to increase loyalty to MC, which in turn, will help fundraising in the future.

The Montgomery College Foundation and the Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology Foundation Boards of Directors: These volunteer board members share a commitment to the College’s mission. The PTAC suggests continued engagement with these volunteer board members in order to:

• Strategically leverage their relationship-building influence.
• Advance the mission of the College through engagement and possible partnerships.
• Support and advocate for the needs of the College.
• Create connections between the president and donors.

Please Share Your Comments

Our community helped shape the PTAC recommendations, and we value and welcome further input about the report. Send us your comments.