Community Colleges: The Next Frontier of Recovery Support at Institutions of Higher Education (2018)

In 2015 and 2016 a Transforming Youth Recovery (TYR) study found only six community colleges in the U.S. offering recovery support services and resources for students in recovery from an addiction or substance use disorder (“recovery support services and resources”); with none of them thriving, TYR was inspired to play a role in expanding the field much the same way it had played a role in expanding the field of recovery support services and resources on four-year campuses.

The Bridging the Gap grant program provided funds and technical assistance to community colleges offering recovery support services and resources. During the grant program, TYR also undertook research to (1) describe the recovery support services and resources being offered at community colleges in the U.S., (2) describe student engagement in those services, and (3) describe institutional attitude toward recovery support services and resources on community college campuses. All of these activities were undertaken in order to build awareness of these services so additional institutions can join the movement and those already offering services can broaden their thinking based on the approaches and perspectives of their peers.

Each grantee was asked to deploy TYR’s Student Engagement and Institutional Attitude Survey. Responses were received from February 29, 2017 to October 11, 2018. In total 2,612 responses are included in this analysis from the following community colleges:

  1. Central Piedmont Community College
  2. Community College of Philadelphia
  3. Eastfield College
  4. Greenfield Community College
  5. Harford Community College
  6. Minneapolis Community & Technical College
  7. Nash Community College
  8. Northampton Community College
  9. Santa Rosa Junior College
  10. Southwestern Community College
  11. Truckee Meadows Community College

This research includes observations and analysis from discussions with and visits to the various campuses as well as their responses to the survey.

The 2018 Student Engagement and Institutional Attitude Survey Data Download is now available for researchers and field practitioners from the Capacitype platform.