Future-Focused: 2030 Strategic Plan

College of Lake County strives to be a place where every student succeeds, every employee thrives, so that every business achieves and every community grows.

Guided by this aspirational statement for the past six years, CLC improved equitable student success outcomes through intentional strategic efforts and leveraging workforce and community partnerships.

The 2024 Strategic Plan served as a road map accelerating CLC’s path toward recognition in 2025 as an Achieving the Dream Leader College of Distinction for its ongoing improvements in outcomes across all student groups. This designation recognizes and motivates sustained and proactive reform efforts that result in equitable student success outcomes.

“Becoming a Leader College of Distinction is a testament to the data-informed, whole-college transformation that CLC faculty and staff have activated over the past several years,” said CLC President Dr. Lori Suddick. “This designation means the evidence shows that the changes that have been implemented are making a difference in outcomes for students, which means we are making a difference in the diverse communities across Lake County.”

The 2024 Strategic Plan focused work across six strategic pillars leading to multi-year highs in three-year graduation rates, improved outcomes across all student populations and growing enrollment in adult education, dual credit and college-level programs.

Using a futures-thinking approach, the College collected input from over 2,000 individuals, including business leaders, community stakeholders, students and employees during its planning process. The voices of the community and students affirmed the importance of CLC’s role as a catalyst for educational attainment that leads to familysustaining living wages and shared prosperity for each citizen. Participants answered questions about what they saw as the future of the Lake County community and the college’s role in securing that future.

The 2030 Strategic Plan guides the college’s continued pursuit of excellence through three strategic pillars that are aligned to the over-arching themes that emerged from the input sessions. The steps forward deepen the college’s commitment to a student- and community-centered approach to advance regional workforce needs. CLC’s pillars and strategies steer toward a preferable future in which CLC contributes as an engine of economic mobility and as a community catalyst.

2030 STRATEGIC PLAN PILLARS

STUDENT ACCESS AND SUCCESS

Key ideas: Affordable access, student success resources, relevant pathways and integrated career and learning experiences

COMMUNITY VIBRANCY

Key ideas: Education and workforce pipelines and being a community catalyst

FUTURE-READY ORGANIZATION

Key ideas: Organizational agility and digital transformation