Whom does the League Serve?

The mission of the League for Innovation in the Community College, a nonprofit educational consortium of resourceful community colleges, is to stimulate experimentation and innovation in all areas of community college development and serve as a catalyst, project incubator, and experimental laboratory for all community colleges. As it pursues its mission, the League interacts with and serves the following key constituencies.

1. League member colleges and their students, faculty, staff, and trustees. The following exclusive services are provided only to member colleges: an ongoing information exchange of key innovations and programs; Innovator and League Highlights—special, League-only publications; the biennial trustee chair retreat; semiannual meetings of the board and League representatives; special student-focused activities such as the student art and student literary competitions; and a range of recognition and staff development programs including the Innovation of the Year awards, the League Fellows program, and priority acceptance into the Executive Leadership Institute program.
   
   League colleges are provided the first opportunity to appoint key representatives to task forces, work groups, and advisory groups that are related to League projects and activities. In addition, staff at League member colleges are afforded featured roles as keynoters and facilitators of special sessions and workshops at national conferences; priority is also given to League colleges on the number and scheduling of forums. League colleges have the first right of refusal to host and manage any League conferences in their geographical area and are offered discounted registration fees to League conferences.
   
   In addition to the above exclusive services, League member colleges also participate extensively in—and provide key leadership to—League projects, publications, and activities that include non-League colleges.
   
   
2. Community colleges and technical institutes in the U.S. and Canada—with special emphasis on the nearly 500 members of the League’s Alliance for Community College Innovation. The results of all League projects and activities are shared with these institutions through newsletters, monographs, and other publications. Signals, the League’s technology newsletter, and Leadership Abstracts are benefits of both League and Alliance membership, and Alliance colleges are offered specially discounted conference registration fees.
   
   
3. Partners in the League’s Information Technology and Workforce Initiatives. These partners add substance and breadth to two of the League’s priority programs. The partners contribute equipment, funds, and expertise, and they help link community colleges with other agencies and organizations in information technology and workforce training. The partners benefit through affiliation with the League’s member colleges; participation in League projects, activities, and publications; and the featured role they play in the League’s national conferences.
   
   
4. Other educational organizations, such as the American Association of Community Colleges, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, and the Association of Community College Trustees, selected universities and professors of higher education, state directors of community colleges, national higher education leaders, as well as key foundations, trade associations, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. These organizations, agencies, and individuals help connect the League to national and international issues—and opportunities—and have become increasingly important as the League has assumed more of a leadership role nationally and internationally. These colleagues do not receive the same kind of services as do the League’s other colleagues, but do receive information about the League and its activities. Representatives from several of these groups regularly participate in League conferences.
   
   

5. Postsecondary institutions and organizations outside the U.S. and Canada. Activities with these constituencies have been limited, confined mainly to Alliance membership and an increased attendance at League conferences and institutes. The League is challenged in working with organizations outside the U.S. and Canada because of difficulties related to language and culture, as well as the expense of international travel. The League’s role to date in countries outside the U.S. and Canada has been to assist colleges in the Netherlands to organize a Consortium voor  Innovatie, assist colleges in the United Kingdom to form the U.K. League for Innovation, arrange college visits within the U.S. and Canada, and provide information to other countries on how to establish an organization such as the League. Several college leaders from New Zealand and Australia have attended the Executive Leadership Institute, and a number of representatives from other countries attend the League’s national conferences. As communications technologies advance and the International Community College develops, colleges and other organizations outside the U.S. and Canada may become more involved in League activities.