Gateways to Democracy: Six Urban Community College Systems New Directions for Community Colleges, Number 107

Urban community colleges play multiple and challenging roles in the social, political, and economic fabric of the nation's metropolitan areas. This issue of New Directions for Community Colleges features case studies of six prototypical urban community college systems, exploring how they meet the educational and training needs of an increasingly diverse ethnic and racial community. The studies shed light on the key issues faced by urban community colleges, including the impact of city, state, and federal forces on the vitality of the college; how to create an urban social agenda with scarce resources; and how to provide equal access to all while strengthening accountability.This is the 107th issue of the Jossey-Bass series New Directions for Community Colleges.

RAYMOND C. BOWEN is president of LaGuardia Community College, New York. GILBERT H. MULLER is special assistant to the president at LaGuardia Community College, New York.