MTCC AmeriCorps member Noah Davis, center.

I’ve served with the Montana College Access Network‘s steering committee for just about five years. I remember hearing about this diverse coalition of folks involved with college access and success from K-12, Higher Ed., Financial Aid, the TRiO and Montana Aspire Community, GEAR Up folks, etc. and wondering about how it all worked. What struck me at the time was that because Campus Compact is a network of campuses advancing the higher ed’s public purposes, college access and success offered some great potential for alignment, and strong big picture support from the Compact movement. The MCAN Conference just celebrated it’s fifth birthday last week, and well over 100 attendees from all corners on Montana made the trek out, and made me want to reflect a little.

MCAN Past Chair Michelle Christianson

Completing post secondary education is the one tried and true way for folks to improve their earning potential, and finding careers that sustain them and their families. I’ve learned a lot from working with MCAN, mostly about the importance of vigorously opening the doors of higher education to first generation and low-income students, and about the Lumina Foundation’s Goal 2025, which talks about the importance of degree attainment in an evolving labor market, and highlights the need of states to respond comprehensively in order to position more citizens for careers. I’ve been steadily inspired by folks like Student Assistance Foundation’s Kelly Cresswell and Rhonda Safford and Montana Tech’s Michelle Christianson who tirelessly have kept MCAN a priority for so many of us. They helped pull together a conference that convenes all kinds of access and success stakeholders, and that uses collective impact model to align the work in the college access space. Michelle was just recognized for her years of service with MCAN, as steering committee chair, conference chair, and now past chair.

Since Campus Compact began working with MCAN, we at Campus Compact have done a number of things to directly support this work:

1) We’ve provided AmeriCorps VISTAs to support MCAN’s statewide work. Both Molly Wilkins and Amber Rhodes served from Helena, with MCAN helping to build capacity for MCAN, which as of today is official 501C3.

2) We’ve supported the Local College Access work that Montana Tech and Bitterroot College have undertaken with VISTAs like Cody LaBean and Kate Johnson.

3) We’ve placed VISTA Summer Associates with TRiO Upward Bound programs, like that at the University of Montana.

And finally, last fall we launched an AmeriCorps state program with the support of the Montana office of Community Service. This program currently has leaders serving with Dawson Community College, MSU Northern, Montana Tech and Bitterroot College. And we currently are recruiting for positions in Great Falls, Billings and in Crow Agency. We’re proud of the work Campus Compact has done in the college access and success space, and are happy to answer questions and lend a hand if you’re interested in partnering. Email or call me (406-243-5175), don’t hesitate.