By Jean Runyon and Catherine Finnegan
Craig Butterworth contributor
This is the first installment of our 5-part series on Accelerate Opportunity – the VCCS strategic plan. Here, we attempt to examine the ambitious plan in detail, highlighting its achievements so far, the metrics we hope to realize, and the work that remains.
Developing Virginia’s Talent
In July 2024, the Virginia’s State Board for Community Colleges adopted Accelerating Opportunity, a bold six-year strategic plan designed to ensure Virginia’s community colleges move at the speed of today’s economy. The plan centers on a clear priority: equipping every student with the knowledge, skills, and credentials needed to thrive in the 21st-century workforce.
Accelerating Opportunity sets an ambitious target—awarding 300,000 cumulative meaningful credentials by 2030 through accelerated access and success in every region of Virginia.
We are already delivering on that promise.
Progress Across the System
The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) has recorded 169,041 meaningful completions to date, placing the system at 122% of its planned pace toward the 2030 goal. Forty percent of all tracked metrics are either Accelerating — meeting or exceeding this year’s targets — or Ahead of the Curve, meaning they have already reached targets that weren’t expected until 2030.
Several areas of the plan have shown particularly strong momentum. FastForward enrollments, online student participation, and support for justice-impacted students have all already met their final 2030 targets — a remarkable achievement in just the first year. Dual enrollment graduates, regionally aligned enrollments, working adult students, and upward mobility metrics are likewise accelerating, exceeding their annual targets for 2024-25.
Dr. Felicia Ganther, senior vice chancellor for Academic and Workforce Programs and one of the plan’s chief architects, feels there’s one group in particular whose contributions have helped accelerate the pace of success thus far. “With college presidents leading the work, chairing the committees and working collaboratively together, really allows us to synergize around these specific goals and targets,” she said.
These results reflect the work of faculty, staff, and administrators across all 23 colleges who have embraced the plan’s five objectives and begun translating system-level goals into everyday practice — backed by a meaningful accountability structure that ties presidential evaluations to the plan’s success.
Five Committees, One Direction
Behind the numbers is a deliberate structure: five steering committees, each led by a college president and focused on one of the plan’s core objectives. These groups have been meeting regularly throughout the year, and their work for 2025-26 offers a window into how the system is turning ambition into action.
Dr. Greg Hodges, president of Patrick and Henry Community, leads Developing Virginia’s Talent. The committee is focused on refining how the system defines and tracks high-demand programs, working to ensure that credentials counted toward the plan’s goals reflect real labor market value and are measured consistently across colleges. “Peppered throughout the metrics associated with the Developing Virginia’s Talent objective are phrases like meaningful post-secondary credentials, regionally high-demand fields, and VCCS graduates who achieve upward mobility,” he noted. “The intent is simple: ensuring that colleges are delivering and consistently measuring credentials that bring labor market value and provide economic gains to all students. Frankly, it’s why we open our doors every day.”
The Reaching More Virginians committee, led by Dr. John Rainone, president of Mountain Gateway Community College, has been deploying an Adult Readiness Assessment across the system and building out customized regional marketing campaigns to bring more working adults back to education — with findings expected to inform planning and evaluation metrics by spring.
Dr. Kris Westover, president of Mountain Empire Community College, is leading efforts to achieve outcomes for Delivering Education to Today’s Learners. Efforts include creating consistency accelerated course formats, building out faculty professional development, and establishing system-wide tracking infrastructure — with a new tool now in place to collect and report on professional development offerings across all colleges. The committee has also been mapping out which online pathways for the Uniform Certificate of General Studies are currently available, giving the System its first clear picture of where the gaps are and what it will take to close them.
The Supporting Today’s Learners committee, led by Dr. Quentin Johnson of Southside Virginia Community College, is developing new financial literacy resources and training for front-line staff, working toward a fully systemized model by fall 2026.
Dr. Shannon Kennedy, president at Rappahannock Community College leads Investing in Virginia’s Workforce committee is focused on infrastructure — advocating for FastForward funding, analyzing space utilization, and developing recommendations on facilities and course fees that will support long-term capacity.
Realizing the plan’s long-term goals will require continued state investment, particularly in high-impact programs like FastForward. As Ganther 
emphasized, the focus is not simply on increasing the number of credentials awarded, but on expanding access to opportunities that help Virginians move into more stable, sustainable careers — reducing financial uncertainty and strengthening communities across the Commonwealth. “Not for the fact that we are looking to offer 300,000 credentials,” she said, “but for the fact that is allowing Virginians the opportunity to move out of financial situations that will not allow them to live without worrying about (how they’re going to survive) paycheck to paycheck.”
What It Means for the Work Ahead
Year two of Accelerate Opportunity 2030 is being defined by scale, integration, and systemwide impact. Ganther feels that keeping the momentum we’ve already established is essential for the plan’s continued success. “Pushing allows us to take a look at where we’re not doing as great as we’d like and figure out how we can readdress those things by infusing them with the same fire that brought us to this point,” she said.
The work before us is no longer about launching promising initiatives—it is about expanding proven strategies across every college and every region.
The first year’s results — the committee work underway, the accountability structure in place, and the new tools coming online — offer a compelling picture of strong momentum. The goal of 300,000 meaningful completions by 2030 looks not just achievable — but well within reach.
Next Issue: Reaching More Virginians
