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For 32 years, Iowa’s community colleges have provided programs to meet the community interests and personal objectives of Iowans. These colleges are committed to the communities they serve and are working to prepare and educate the workforce, improve economic conditions, and create a better quality of life for Iowans. In 1965, the Iowa General Assembly approved legislation creating the state’s 15 area community colleges. Four were founded as technical colleges, but today all are comprehensive community colleges, providing educational access in all 99 counties. Today, the colleges operate 28 campuses, offering credit and noncredit programming to 656 cities and towns. From the beginning, the colleges have focused on building partnerships to fulfil their mission. Partnerships within communities, with each other and with other institutions of higher learning, ensure that the colleges are responsive to community needs. In the 1960s and 1970s, these partnerships helped provide community education, vocational technical programs, the first two years of a baccalaureate degree, and literacy training. In the 1980s, they added involvement with business and industry. The 1990s have presented a new challenge - community development. Partnerships are particularly important in meeting this need. Although community colleges are primarily institutions of teaching and learning, they have been given a special charge to respond to the needs of their local constituencies. In the future, Iowa’s community college will continue to build partnerships to ensure that those needs are met.

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