April is Community College Month, and that presents a great opportunity to get the word out about why community colleges matter, how your college is serving your community's needs today, and why public support for our colleges is more important than ever.
The 2024 #CCMonth theme is "Best Decision Ever."
Download the 2024 Campaign Toolkit (PDF)
Or, click through the toolkit online:
- Introduction
- Logo
- Talking Points for Community College Advocates
- Suggested Social Media Posts & Tips
- About Op-Eds & Sample Op-Eds
- Sample Press Release
- Sample Board Resolutions
- Zoom Background Graphic
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About the Theme
"Community college was the best academic decision I ever made," former ACCT Intern Ayman Mendoza once told us. Mendoza is a Cerritos College and University of California, Irvine graduate who currently works for the University of Southern California.
Mendoza's sentiment is one we hear all the time. During ACCT events, members of the ACCT staff and board are regularly told by members of United States Congress and their staffs, by hospitality and audio-visual professionals, by strangers who happen upon our events that attending community college was "the best decision ever" for themselves, for their children, for other people they know. Some of us on the ACCT staff share the sentiment and we have shared our own stories.
Trustees who serve on the ACCT Member Communications and Education Committee suggested #BestDecisionEver as a complement to #CCMonth for our 2025 campaign because so many community college alumni are excited to share their stories with us. So why not share them with the whole world?
Everyone today is looking for encouraging stories, and we know that community colleges have them.
Your assignment: Reach out to your local press and tell them why going to community college is the #BestDecisionEver for those in your communities. Tell specific stories about how your college transformed someone's life--and then tell another and another and another.
Mobilize your students to take to social media and share during #CCMonth why going to community college is their #BestDecisionEver.
Share those stories with your state and federal representatives, your governors, business owners. If you can, invite them onto your campus and show them firsthand what your college is capable of and introduce them to your thriving students so they can share in their exuberance.
Our toolkit is designed to jumpstart your outreach activities. Implement all the included activities that you can, but don't limit your imagination. Be inspired, be creative, and inspire us with your accomplishments this April.
And share all your stories with us at [email protected] and [email protected] so that we can amplify them and help to get the message out.
Some Words of Encouragement
We know that institutions are being challenged right now like never before.
Community colleges are also doing more to help right now than ever before, and serving as vital lifelines to help people meet basic food, housing and other needs, and providing healthcare professionals and medical equipment to communities.
Community College Month is your opportunity to demonstrate the vital importance of your college, and to make an undeniable case for why your college deserves greater public support.
The toolkit includes information to help you make this case.
Please let us know about your campaign efforts. Be sure to tag us on social media accounts (see links below if you're not already following us), and email us with links to stories, your questions and thoughts.