Future of the Urban Community College : Shaping the Pathways to a Mutiracial Democracy

Curtis L. Ivery, Charles Kinsley, Gunder Myran, Michael H. Parsons

America's biggest cities are pulse points for the entire country. Already weakened by decades of decline, their uneven recovery from the Great Recession has resulted in the further concentration of prosperity in a few and hardship for all the rest. Their citizens similiarly reflect widening disparity between the wealthiest and poorest, threatening an endangered middle class that used to be the proudest measure of our economic and democratic ideals. Urban community colleges are undergoing rapid, multidimensional changes in response to the new conditions and demands everywhere. The challenge for all, regardless of size or location is to reinvent themselves so they can better meet the particular needs of their respective communities. This national higher-education mandate is vital to democracy itself, especially given the multiracial nature of metropolitan areas, where challenges and...