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15 <br /> Q • <br /> 1 <br /> 2 <br /> 3 Commissioner Fowler asked if the five years referenced on the "Small Business Center <br /> 4 Coordinator" slide was in comparison to Durham, or if it had doubled just in Orange County. <br /> 5 Dr. Buxton said over the past five years in Orange County it has doubled, due to <br /> 6 increased demand. He said with federal and state funds, plus loan opportunities, a lot of small <br /> 7 businesses need application and technical assistance. <br /> 8 Commissioner Fowler asked if the absolute could be identified. <br /> 9 Dr. Buxton said he would find the number. <br /> 10 Commissioner Hamilton asked if the success of the students and programs is tracked. <br /> 11 Dr. Buxton said students were traditionally tracked by completion rate, such as first year <br /> 12 success and credit accumulation, as well as time to completion, and overall completion rate. He <br /> 13 said this is how community college systems have historically measured success. He said <br /> 14 DTCC tracks transfer students by whether they transfer to a four-year universities and how they <br /> 15 do at that university. He said DTCC is moving to measures of economic and social mobility. He <br /> 16 said historically the impact is not as great as DTCC wants it to be. He said DTCC is looking at <br /> 17 graduate wages by age 34, or how students move up on economic strata. He said DTCC does <br /> 18 not compete with these measurements on the national level. He said DTCC is more accessible <br /> 19 to first generation college students, and students in poverty than most places in North Carolina <br /> 20 and the country, but is not doing as well as social and economic mobility. He said DTCC is very <br /> 21 focused on improving this. <br /> 22 Commissioner Hamilton said she is looking forward to seeing some of that data and <br /> 23 commends DTCC for looking beyond the traditional completion rate. <br /> 24 Chair Price said when she goes to national and state conferences, it is amazing how far <br /> 25 ahead Durham Tech is with working with partners, businesses, high schools, and economic <br /> 26 development interests. <br /> 27 Dr. Buxton said DTCC wants to continuously improve, and the shifts seen due to <br /> 28 COVID-19 have been challenging. He said DTCC is committed to dealing with the role of race <br /> 29 in the student outcomes. He said DTCC has a robust equity commitment that gets to the <br /> 30 student outcomes, and is committed to accelerating the pace of impact. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 A motion was made by Commissioner Dorosin, seconded by Commissioner Greene, to <br /> 33 recess the meeting for a five-minute break until 8:47 p.m. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 Roll call ensued <br /> 36 <br /> 37 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 38 <br />