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? N.C. community colleges complement economic development by offering <br />customized training to new and existing business and industry <br />? N.C. community colleges offer an affordable alternative for post-secondary <br />education and training <br />•' Counties have statutory responsibility for developing and maintaining <br />facilities for a community college campus in the county <br />? • State bond funding that might be available for construction of a building will <br />have to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the county <br />? DTCC, the Orange County Schools, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City <br />Schools have strong partnerships that have resulted in:. <br />? high school students taking college classes through DTCC <br />? the educational institutions developing articulation plans between high <br />school and DTCC curricula, and <br />? local business and industry participating in job readiness skills <br />awareness for high school students and teachers <br />? Cooperative and collaborative programming between the public schools and <br />DTCC would grow with college staff located in closer proximity to schools <br />personnel <br />A diverse group of residents met in focus groups during the summer and early fall. A <br />member of the Community College Task Force facilitated each group. A total of 148 <br />residents filled out questionnaires and/or participated in conversations during the process. <br />High school students from both school systems, currently enrolled community college <br />students, welfare recipients, business owners and employers, school 'system personnel <br />and senior citizens shared their knowledge of current community college offerings in the <br />County and their thoughts on the establishment of a permanent satellite campus of <br />Durham Technical Community College. <br />A spreadsheet detailing the responses and comments of the focus group participants is <br />included in Appendix A of this report. A summary of their responses to a questionnaire <br />completed by all participants is included. below: <br />? The 148 respondents included 92 females and 51 males who ranged in age <br />from 14 to older than 65 (five individuals did not complete the question about <br />gender) <br />46 Seventeen high school or community college students were included along <br />with 10 retired individuals <br />? Sixty-four were employed full-time, 20 were employed part-time and 22 did <br />not respond to the question about employment status (fifteen indicated they <br />were unemployed) <br />? Seventy-six of the 148 respondents had previously taken classes offered by <br />community colleges headquartered in Durham, Alamance, Guilford, <br />Cumberland, Lee or Iredell Counties <br />? Ninety-six, or 64.9%, of the respondents indicated they were likely or very <br />likely to take advantage of community college programming if it were to be <br />offered in the County Another 33 said they might take advantage of a <br />community college satellite campus. <br />The respondents (148) indicated the following groups of people would be most likely to <br />participate in programming at a community college satellite campus in the County: