This partnership supports the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to create a culture of care to improve retention, course completion, and degree and certificate completion for the nearly 200,000 students enrolled in 23 community colleges statewide. REL Appalachia staff are collaborating with VCCS leaders to examine and strengthen available data and linkages across systems so that VCCS can evaluate and improve Single Stop, an initiative to connect students with critical services and public benefits. REL AP staff are also supporting VCCS leaders’ efforts to create a more supportive instructional environment and increase students’ sense of belonging by ensuring that all faculty and staff use evidence-based, trauma-sensitive approaches when interacting with students in and outside of the classroom.
Current projects
The purpose of this training and coaching project is to provide Virginia Community College System (VCCS) faculty, staff, and administrators with evidence-based resources they can use to implement trauma-informed practices, and to establish a continuous improvement process to strengthen implementation of these practices over time. In Phase I, REL staff will identify existing resources and co-develop new resources, as needed, to support implementation of trauma-informed practices in postsecondary settings. In Phase II, we will co-develop data-collection protocols and templates that project partners can use to reflect on and improve their implementation of trauma-informed practices. REL staff will also support the project partners to disseminate these resources and data-collection protocols and templates to other VCCS staff interested in implementing trauma-informed practices.
The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is partnering with national nonprofit organization Single Stop to help eligible students at all 23 of its colleges connect with critical services and public benefits to address food and housing insecurity as well as other potential barriers to success. REL staff are partnering with VCCS leaders to understand the quality of existing Single Stop data for VCCS students and to collect additional data that VCCS can use to support program planning and inform the design of a future evaluation study.
Completed Projects
No projects at this time.