Dear MXC Community,

It gives me great pleasure to share Malcolm X College’s progress toward our strategic objectives. During the third year of our strategic plan, we strengthened student support programs and launched collaborative, forward-thinking initiatives that will guide and sustain our work for years to come. Highlighted accomplishments include:

• Achieved record enrollment in credit and adult education programs and credit hour production.
• Expanded the I Am an African American Male Mentoring (IAAMM) program to reach more students and added a study abroad component. This program has a proven track record of successful student engagement and increased retention rates for Black male students. The study abroad trips have been designed to focus on the student learning outcomes of identity attainment, social emotional learning, and cultural competency.
• Expanded our partnership with the One Million Degrees (OMD) Program, which has provided 668 MXC students with mentoring support and wraparound services since Fall 2023.
• Launched our partnership with the Achieving the Dream network, beginning with a “Year of Inquiry” that examines our data, policies, and practices to glean insights that will guide our strategic initiatives.
• Expanded our Career Planning and Placement operations to include 5 Career Service Advisors (vs. 1), enhance our operations with a Headshot Camera, advocate for and gained approval of the Handshake software to more effectively work with our employer partners and begin the planning of our $3.5M Jobs Center Program, expected to break ground in FY 25.
• Broke ground on an expansion and renovation of our Westside Learning Center satellite campus, which will bring a nearly $15 million investment in the Austin and Garfield Park communities, expand education programs, and provide pathways to in-demand careers.

These accomplishments demonstrate our deep commitment to the vision and values outlined in our Strategic Plan. They reflect a strategy for Malcolm X College to serve with urgency as a catalyst for social change and economic growth in the Chicago community. Our shared values articulated in the strategic plan—accountability, community, diversity, empowerment, learning, and respect—serve as common threads that unite these ambitious initiatives.

Many of our strategic initiatives, including the IAAMM and OMD programs, center on the strategic lever of student experience. These initiatives help students navigate our institution, expand learning inside and outside the classroom, and help students make steady progress toward their goals.

• For example, a Fall 2022 advising outreach initiative increased the percentage of students in the first-year fall-to-fall retention cohort who had advising appointments from 32% in Fall 2021 to 44% in Fall 2022. Furthermore, we found that student engagement with advisors is associated with higher retention rates. The fall-to-fall retention rate was 60% for students with advising appointments, compared to 42% for those without advising appointments.
• The IAAMM program also achieved notable success in student retention. Of the 20 IAAMM mentees enrolled as credit students in Fall 2022, 80% (16/20) were either retained or had completed a certificate/degree one year later.
• These initiatives contributed to a notable 3.8 percentage-point increase in the first-year fall-to-fall retention rates for Black students between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022.

Grant funding and expanded partnerships led to sustained progress on the economic responsiveness strategic lever.

• The Workforce Equity Initiative (WEI) grant continues to provide critical support for students from Westside communities pursuing programs in the healthcare sector. Participants received first-dollar scholarships to cover tuition costs and stipends, and reimbursements for uniforms, background checks, and drug tests required by programs and clinical sites. Students received assistance for transportation, as well as vouchers to cover book and school supply purchases. During FY23, the WEI grant served 184 students, 121 of whom completed their program.
• A partnership with the UIC Departments of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences is strengthening vertical pathways from our Personal Fitness Trainer and Physical Therapist Assistant programs into high-earning careers in movement sciences.
• A partnership with UIC’s School of Nursing has produced more than 116 admits, 34 potential graduates, and a host of students in some phase of achieving their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). This program is yet to be fully advertised but students are taking advantage of the unique opportunity to complete their BSN.
• Our partnership that places students at University of Chicago Medicine for clinical education has grown by 50%

Our efforts across strategic levers are being accelerated by continued outside funding through targeted and aligned grants; expanded partnerships with community-based and corporate organizations; innovative and creative student supports; and broader access to disaggregated and program-level data, including qualitative data on student voice.

In the fourth year of our strategic plan, our activities will be guided and refined by two important planning efforts. First, our “Year of Inquiry” in the Achieving the Dream Network will culminate in an Action Plan that identifies key strategies to improve first-year momentum and timely completion rates. The Action Plan will identify clear implementation timelines and milestones, as well as monitoring and evaluation protocols. Second, the Equity Plan update for the Illinois Community College Board will help us gauge our progress to date on closing equity gaps and provide an opportunity to refine our equity goals and strategies. Both plans will include a focus on evidence-based measures of first-year success and momentum. In addition, the plans will include a focus on building equitable pathways for students seeking to enter high-demand healthcare career programs.

We believe that our continual efforts in these areas will help catalyze social change and economic growth in the Chicago community. Our initiatives across the College are aligned with clear strategic levers to enhance the student experience, reduce inequities, and improve economic responsiveness. The year ahead offers exciting opportunities to build on our successes and, ultimately, enable every student of Malcolm X College to achieve their personal and professional goals.

Sincerely,

David A. Sanders, Doctoral Candidate ABD

President

Malcolm X College