This year, 1997, is the 50th anniversary of the Truman Commission Report in which the federal government, for the first time, fully recognized the important role of community colleges. The Truman Commission called for public postsecondary education for all Americans, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, or economic status. And they called on the community colleges to help to make that dream come true. Once again, in 1997, state and national leaders are calling on community colleges to take the lead in educating all Americans for the information age in which we are already living.

Community colleges are the entry way to postsecondary education for so many Americans. Not just those young people who head directly for college, but also adult Americans, in every industry, who need retraining and new skills in order to remain competitive. Additionally, President Clinton's Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, popularly known as welfare reform, requires that adults in families receiving assistance participate in work activities within 24 months. Those activities include vocational education and job skills training that will, for the most part, be provided by our community colleges. All this education and training, for so many different Americans, is a tall order. But community colleges have responded to similar challenges in the past.

We have made great progress in education in this country during the last few years. A higher percentage of high school students are now graduating; a higher proportion of high school students are now taking more rigorous courses; and total enrollment in colleges has increased 17% during the last ten years. But there is still more to do in American education. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley has enumerated those challenges as follows:

· To make it possible for all children to read by the end of third grade.

· To have all children competent in algebra by the end of eighth grade.

· To be able to afford at least two years of college by age 18 and to pursue lifelong learning.

· To have talented and well-prepared teachers in our classrooms.

· To have all classrooms connected to the Internet by 2000.

· To promote safe and drug-free schools.

· To learn according to class standards of achievement and accountability.

President Clinton's expansion of the maximum annual Pell grants and HOPE scholarship proposals are two initiatives that will help all Americans to afford two years of college. At this writing, those initiatives seem on their way to being enacted by Congress.

Just as community colleges are the local education engine for the American work force, the community college faculty are the energy that fuels those engines. As we enter this new global technological economy it will be up to the faculty to develop and to implement the welfare-to-work curriculum. And it will require a talented faculty to simultaneously provide young and adult learners alike with the high academic and high-skill vocational courses that they will need to succeed. Now, more than ever, community college faculty will be called upon to creatively maximize educational resources so that community colleges can continue to lead in the development of a work force prepared for lifelong learning.

Community colleges are very much a part of the solution to all the education challenges that face this nation. They are the entry way to college for women, minorities, all working people, and all individuals who want to move off welfare. These two-year colleges truly represent the community interests in postsecondary education. At the U.S. Department of Education we want to work with people around the country to help the community colleges serve your educational needs. Community colleges began early in this century, and within 50 years they were recognized as a key component of postsecondary education. As we face the education challenges of the next century, community colleges and their faculty will be a key component in the educational success of all Americans.