Southwest Tennessee Community College has won the 2021 Bellwether Award in the category of Planning, Governance and Finance.
Southwest’s Redesign, Reinvent, and Reset: Organizing for Large Scale Systemic Change was a strategic plan for the school that promotes equity and upward social mobility at a predominantly black institution.
STCC focused on factors that contributed to declines in enrollment, retention and graduation rates and widening achievement gaps between black and white students.
By 2017, enrollment increased 10%. In 2018, the graduation rate doubled and achievement gaps between black and white students narrowed. There was also a 26% growth in associate degrees in 2018.
