Upward Mobility: ‘It’s the American Promise’

Sieberg: America's community colleges create pathways to upward economic mobility for millions of Americans as affordable options to higher education, preparing students to enter the workforce or advance in their careers. Hi, I'm Daniel Sieberg, and this is "Getting Connected," powered by Comcast Newsmakers. We're on location at the 2024 Skills Summit in Washington D.C. Joining me now is Juan Salgado, Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago. And that's the city's community college system. And, Juan, thank you so much for joining us.

Salgado: It's great to be here with you, Daniel.

Sieberg: Now, you have a personal story to tell here yourself as a graduate of community colleges. Tell us about that.

Salgado: I am. I am one of six children. We are all community college graduates, very proudly so. Community college was a way for six of us to get an education and not just one. My dad was a factory worker. And, you know, we had to work our way through college. I had a night shift and then went to college immediately afterwards, like many of my students do today.

Sieberg: And now you're the chancellor.

Salgado: That's correct.

Sieberg: So, at this level, how do you see economic mobility as part of the community college mission and what does economic mobility even mean to you?

Salgado: Well, it's central to our mission. It's really an opportunity to make more, to contribute more to the local economy, to contribute more to your family economy and your community's economy. It's the opportunity to look at your parents and their well-being and say, "You know what? I can do even better economically here in my community in the United States of America." And, so, well, mobility is -- quite frankly, it's the American promise, it's the American dream realized. And we do that at community colleges.

Sieberg: Juan, tell me a little bit about what you're doing to increase relevance, you know, with digital skills and a changing economy. What are the ways that you're ensuring that there's economic value in these programs?

Salgado: Our students are 75% Pell eligible, meaning they're lower income, they're 75% Black and Brown students from oftentimes the lowest income communities of Chicago. They're least likely to have internet connections in their home or the best internet connections in their communities, let alone be able to afford a laptop when they enter into, you know, our colleges. And, so, we have to -- in order to be relevant first to them, we have to have a system of supports. You know? And that includes the supports so that you can access the internet. So much of learning today is acquired through electronic means and increasingly so since the pandemic. So, we have to be relevant to our students and the local community. And then we also have to be relevant to the marketplace, where are the jobs, where is the economic opportunity, in what fields, in which careers, and working with those employers to design our curriculum and to create workplace learning opportunities so that our students aren't just learning, they're earning while they're learning. These are all parts of an integrative approach around education that community colleges bring to entire communities. In fact, in my case, we bring that to the whole city of Chicago. We are our city's most accessible engine for socioeconomic mobility and racial equity, something that's incredibly important to a vibrant city like Chicago. We can deliver a workforce in a variety of fields because we're meeting the needs of our students and, at the same time, we're meeting the needs of our local economy.

Sieberg: And how do you meet those students wherever they are in terms of accessibility? We live in a hybrid world to some degree. Is there a mix of online programs and in person?

Salgado: Very much so. Flexibility, we have seven colleges, we have courses at all hours of the day and the night, you can take them in person, you can take them online. We provide much needed financial support in addition to the loaner desktops and internet access. We also say to our students, "If you get a B average at our public school, community college is completely free to you." If you want to go through a short-term program, we have something called Free Future Ready, free college for the highest demand occupations for any Chicagoan. And, if you're a payer, we have not -- this is the first year we raised tuition in eight years. So, we keep our tuition affordable as well. So, all of those combinations of supports are the way we say to our community, "Come access the power of education."

Sieberg: And how different are those economic opportunities, whether they're in the warehouse or a software engineer?

Salgado: They're about as different as the interest of local people in our community and the interest of the local employers. And, so, every human being has a different and distinct dream. And the wonderful thing about community college system is it can cater to many of those dreams. We have a wide variety of programs that span not just short-term credentials, but also associate's degrees that lead to bachelor's degrees. And, so, the idea that I can enter into an institution -- by the way, we don't turn anybody away. We take every single learner no matter what their current learning capacity and we say, "You have the capacity to become anything you want to be in life and we have a program based on your interests, your desires, your beliefs about your future to meet those particular needs."

Sieberg: Well, you're such a success story of community colleges yourself. Juan Salgado, Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, thank you so much for joining us.

Salgado: Thank you, Daniel.

Sieberg: And thanks to you as well for watching. For more conversations about digital equity and broadband expansion, visit gettingconnected.com. I'm Daniel Sieberg.