COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on the people community colleges serve, including people who depend on low-wage jobs, and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals. And community colleges will play an important role in helping those workers and learners get their lives back on track.
Policymakers have made or proposed unprecedented investments in the nation’s K-12 and postsecondary education systems to address immediate post-pandemic needs and lay the groundwork for a brighter future. But can we be sure that policies enacted at the federal and state levels will result in more equitable access to quality education and training opportunities?
That’s a question JFF is exploring in this new podcast series, When Policy Meets Practice, which begins June 21. Hosted by longtime higher education journalist Paul Fain, When Policy Meets Practice features conversations with community college leaders who are members of JFF’s Policy Leadership Trust about the policy approaches that produce results for workers, learners, and employers, and those that are falling short
The podcast highlights the most promising work in the field, with blunt takes on fast-moving policy questions, ranging from the push for free community college to proposals to expand Pell Grants to cover short-term training programs. Paul concludes each episode by putting the issues in perspective in conversations with JFF policy experts.
Elevating the Voices on the Ground
One of the goals of When Policy Meets Practice is to ensure that the voices of professionals who are doing work on the ground are included in policy debates. “In order to make sure that policy is doing what we want it to do, we have to be talking with practitioners who are actually the ones who have to work with that policy and make it work for them and make it work for their students,” says JFF Associate Vice President Lexi Barrett, who leads JFF’s state and federal policy efforts.
The podcast kicks off on June 21, 2021, and it will feature a new half-hour episode every other Monday through the early fall. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and connect with us on Twitter (@JFFtweets) to continue the discussion.
And if you have any thoughts about topics we should cover, please contact the executive producer of When Policy Meets Practice, JFF Associate Director David Altstadt, via Twitter and LinkedIn.