Community Colleges as Economic Engines

The author co-founded the company known today as Economic Modeling Specialists International (Emsi) nearly 20 years ago. The main reason for starting the company was the existence of a pent-up demand for credible and affordable economic impact studies for community and technical colleges. Over the past 19 years, Emsi has responded to this demand by completing over 2000 such studies for colleges in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The book chronicles the lessons learned over this time period and highlights what an economic impact study is, is not, what the results mean, and why they are important. It also discusses how presidents and governing boards can leverage the impact results to address other issues they deal with on a daily basis. Few college presidents are fully aware of this opportunity, however, and thus do not fully exploit the richness of the study. A strong case is also made that the college leadership should play a much stronger leadership roles in regional economic development of their region in addition to their roles as advocates for their colleges only.