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What Drives Us

What Drives Us

THE COLLEGE

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Founded in 1972, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is the youngest and among the largest of the 23 colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The college is named in honor of the late Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, J. Sargeant Reynolds, who championed legislation creating the state-supported community college system and publicly took positions that, at the time, were courageous on education improvement, economic development, and equal opportunity regardless of race or life circumstance.

The service region of Reynolds encompasses the City of Richmond and counties of Hanover, Henrico, Goochland and portions of Louisa and Powhatan. The two largest localities, the City and Richmond and Henrico County, have a large population of racial and ethnic minorities, the majority of which are African American. The smaller counties in the Reynolds service region, Hanover, Goochland, Louisa and Powhatan, do not reflect this same demographic diversity, with the percentage of white residents ranging from 81-88% (U.S. Census Bureau).

Our Commitment to Post Secondary Access and Success

Too many residents of Greater Richmond lack opportunity for social and economic mobility. It is not a lack of intellect, aptitude or talent that limits the ability of some to thrive; rather, policies to concentrate poverty and public housing have disproportionally created barriers to education and higher-wage employment for communities of color. At the same time, employers report difficulty filling jobs due to a lack of available talent. They struggle to find educated, qualified workers, even in fields that offer strong wages. Thousands of good jobs in areas core to our infrastructure go unfilled, impeding business growth and expansion.

At Reynolds, we believe all students can reach their full potential when we create the conditions that allow it and it is our responsibility to do so. We embrace our role to provide employers with skilled talent, enabling our economic development partners to attract new business and help those already in our region expand. We carry out these dual obligations with intentional action. For students, we address barriers that prevent many community college students from completing their education by providing wraparound supports including food pantries, emergency grants and loans, access to mental health services and a partnership with Single Stop™, a national non-profit organization that builds pathways out of poverty by leveraging partnerships and technology to connect people to existing resources, all through a unique one-stop shop model. Hand in hand with industry, we develop curriculum that enables students to gain the skills and competencies needed to access good paying jobs. Along with regional workforce development, educational and philanthropic partners, we work to address the region’s talent shortages and provide economic mobility for Richmond’s families.

The journey toward creating transformational change was launched in fall 2018 when Reynolds began a deep dive into success data that revealed an alarming equity gap in student outcomes between students of color and their peers. The statistics were a wake-up call. With speed and intentionality, the college implemented strategies to improve the delivery of our core mission to serve students and our community, refusing to allow students of color to falter and fall further behind while business proceeds as usual. In a college reorganization, difficult personnel reductions were made to reinvest in hiring staff who work directly with students to address their complex needs, establishing holistic student supports, and investing in faculty and staff to provide the knowledge and skills needed to serve our diverse student population. These actions showed promising results. Enrollment, which had been on a spiral downslide, stabilized in Fall 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic along with the racial reckoning that gripped our nation was felt intensely in our service region. Richmond’s role in history as the capital of the Confederacy featured prominently within the broader national movement of racial reckoning. Monument Avenue, a tourist attraction and point of pride for some and a source of anger and pain for others, made international news as its monuments came down, symbolizing a new narrative of Richmond that many are eager to write versus the Confederate iconography and story others wish to preserve. The results of these two pandemics on Reynolds enrollment are cause of great concern. Between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, new enrollment of students of color declined by 26% when there was a 6% increase in new white students. For returning students, there was a decline of 32% of students of color compared to an 8% decline of their white peers.

As Reynolds enters its next half-century mark, the college community is committed to reengaging those who stepped away during the pandemic and serving marginalized populations who have been left out of post-secondary education and pathways to social and economic mobility. Intentional efforts over the past year, guided by the college’s strategic direction, are working. Fall 2022 enrollment grew by 4%.

In June 2022, Reynolds joined the Achieving the Dream Network, the national movement for community college transformation that leads to equitable student success.

Statement on Equity (adopted September 20, 2022)

At Reynolds Community College, we are committed to fostering an equitable educational environment where all individuals can attain the knowledge and skills to pursue the college and career path of their choice, develop a sense of self, and become active and contributing members of their communities. Personal and social identifiers such as race, ethnicity, gender, disability, citizenship, language, sexual orientation, religion, and/or income should not represent obstacles to accessing educational opportunities, nor be predictors of future success.

Understanding the lived experience of the students and communities we serve is essential to our ability to deliver on this commitment. At Reynolds, equity does not mean creating equal conditions for all students, but rather targeting resources and removing barriers based on individual students’ needs and circumstances, which includes providing differentiated supports and respecting students’ voice and agency.

We measure and track progress toward our most important institutional priorities and goals with data – aggregated and disaggregated - to ensure that our strategies promote equitable access, progression, completion, and job placement outcomes for all students.

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