Rural Community College Alliance (RCCA), Greater Texas Foundation (GTF) and Economic Mobility Systems (EMS) at the Commit Partnership have launched a collaborative program to produce stronger and more equitable college and workforce outcomes for rural Texas students. Funded by a three-year $3.1 million grant from Greater Texas Foundation, the Rural College Promise program will involve three community colleges ─ Grayson College, Tyler Junior College and North Central Texas College ─ and the rural counties they serve across north and east Texas. Supporting partners also include the National College Promise Campaign and Phi Theta Kappa.

In addition to supporting local students and communities, the colleges will partner with RCCA and EMS to develop a repeatable, affordable and scalable model for rural communities across Texas as a roadmap for rural America. “Rural community colleges are the neighborhood schools of higher education, serving the nearly 90 million Americans who live in our rural communities,” said Emily Klement, vice president of RCCA. “Many students in rural communities are economically disadvantaged, and a small percentage of them pursue higher education. Our goal for the Rural College Promise program is to help more of our high school-graduating seniors enroll and complete a higher education degree, which is a critical requirement to securing more highly skilled living wage jobs that will be a catalyst for rural economic development.”