Jody Blackwell

The meeting discussed the potential purchase of the Carolina Pride Car Wash building to relocate and update community college programs. The purchase price for the building is $7 million, with funding coming from a combination of county and state allocations. The benefits of the location include increased visibility and easy access, with an estimated 7% increase in overall enrollment. The meeting also addressed the need for updated facilities for health and advanced technology programs, highlighting the limitations of current spaces and the potential for a world-class hospital simulation facility and advanced technology training center.

Piedmont Community College's strategic plan is centered around transforming lives, strengthening the community, and inspiring individuals to achieve excellence. The college envisions a supportive learning environment where students gain valuable skills and prepare for meaningful employment, contributing to their families, workplaces, and communities. Core values include learning, people, community, access, integrity, and continuous improvement, ensuring ongoing assessment and professional development to achieve excellence across the college.

The Caswell County 2022 Attainment Profile highlights the county's progress toward the 2030 North Carolina degree attainment goal. Key areas of focus include improving math and reading performance among 3-8 graders, increasing FAFSA completion rates among high school seniors, and reducing chronic absenteeism. The profile also addresses postsecondary enrollment and completion rates, emphasizing the need to increase college-going and degree attainment among Caswell County residents. Specific strategies involve enhancing career and technical education (CTE) programs, supporting adult learners, and aligning postsecondary education with labor market demands. The impact of COVID-19 on educational outcomes is also acknowledged, with a focus on addressing enrollment declines and data disruptions.

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), named Keep the PACE---Personalized Advising for Career Excellence, is designed to improve student success through a centralized advising model. The plan focuses on empowering students to take responsibility for achieving their goals, creating educational plans aligned with student aspirations, and addressing key areas such as yield rate, payment arrangements, enrollment verification, registration, and completion. Interventions include email outreach, advising assessments, targeted text messages, proactive discussions on attendance policies, and the use of program planning guides and self-service tools. The plan also includes a staffing plan, professional development, and ongoing assessment to measure student learning outcomes.

The Person County 2022 Attainment Profile highlights the county's progress toward the state's 2030 goal of 2 million (67%) degree attainment. The county's proposed goal is 5,871 (56%). Key areas of focus include improving postsecondary completion rates (currently 48% within 6 years, below the rural metro average of 57%), increasing postsecondary enrollment (currently 42% within 12 months of graduation, below the average of 49%), and addressing the high percentage of adults (22%) with some college but no degree. The profile also addresses the impact of COVID-19 on the education pipeline, showing declines in enrollment and FAFSA completion. Specific targets include increasing NC Pre-K enrollment, improving college-and-career-ready scores in reading and math, raising graduation rates, reducing chronic absenteeism, and increasing FAFSA completion rates. The profile also examines postsecondary enrollment rates for various demographic groups, career and college preparation initiatives, and the success of high school graduates. It highlights the alignment of postsecondary degrees and credentials with labor market needs, noting areas of misalignment such as Health Science, Business Management & Administration, and Information Technology. Finally, the profile points to resources such as the Promising Attainment Practices Database to support local attainment efforts.