The Education Design Lab hosted the BRIDGES Rural Institution Impact Showcase on June 26, 2023.

What: A virtual Zoom showcase of learnings from the Building Rural Innovation, Designing Educational Strategies (BRIDGES) project.

Why: Through the BRIDGES Rural initiative funded by the Ascendium Education Group, the Lab led a cohort of five rural community colleges to build their capacity to respond to their regional labor markets and to enable greater economic agility for their learners and communities.The project aimed to co-design approaches with rural community colleges to create new pathways to postsecondary attainment and economic opportunity in rural communities.

Who: BRIDGES institutions include College of Eastern Idaho, Eastern Maine Community College, Finger Lakes Community College, Washington State Community College, and Zane State College.

On the agenda: The showcase highlighted each institution’s learnings throughout the two-year design process and the next steps as the BRIDGES project concludes. In addition to college share-outs, there were short breakout sessions to learn more about the community and institutional transformation as a result of the project.

Resources: Read the BRIDGES Rural Insights Briefs: Part 1 | Part 2