LINKING STATE PRIORITIES WITH LOCAL STRATEGIES: Examining the Role of Communities in Postsecondary Access and Success in Michigan

Access to an affordable, high-quality postsecondary education is one of the most compelling public priorities in the twenty-first century. Policymakers and education advocates increasingly call for a more highly educated workforce to compete in a global knowledge economy. This chapter examines the development of the community-based college access strategy in Michigan from the work of the Statewide Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth in 2004 through the announcement of the Kalamazoo Promise to the proliferation of local college access networks and Promise Zones through the second decade of the twenty-first century. It examines the development and evolution of a community-based strategy to improve postsecondary opportunity across the state. The chapter examines the evolution of local initiatives in Michigan, and discusses the role of engaged research in the social change process.