Boston corporate and nonprofit leaders recently flocked to a conference room at Roxbury Community College as part of a reinvigorated effort by college leaders to raise the profile of the once troubled school and steer its graduates into meaningful careers.
Business executives from an array of organizations — including National Grid, Beth Israel Lahey Health, and Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center —gathered to strengthen ties with the predominantly Black college and hire more of its graduates.
RCC officials, meanwhile, got the opportunity to ask some high-powered employers how they improve academic offerings to meet industry needs.
The gathering is one of many that RCC is hosting over the year, including a jubilant first-ever homecoming celebration in May, as the school is using the occasion of its 50th anniversary to reset its strategy. The college also looks to use the events to burnish its reputation, which has been battered in recent years by scandals, regulatory hurdles, mismanagement, and low enrollment.
Students, college employees, and political and community leaders told the Globe they believe the school is now moving forward with a steady leader in interim president Jackie Jenkins-Scott, the former president of Wheelock College.
“It’s very hard once a narrative is established to get people to hope and dream that a new narrative could actually be unfolding,” said Reverend Ray Hammond, chair of the Roxbury Community College Foundation. “But that’s exactly what we’re seeing.”
Still, regulatory challenges linger, including a notation from the college’s accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education, which in March said the college is in danger of not meeting the commission’s expectations for student success. The commission declined to comment further.
Jenkins-Scott said the college needs to clearly define what success looks like for its students, who face different challenges than traditional college students at residential campuses. She said the school is also working to improve its processes for assessing academic programs. The college’s graduation rate is 26 percent, according to the US Department of Education, below the average completion rate for two-year schools of 34 percent.
Community college students often pause or stop their studies because of work conflicts, financial constraints, and family obligations, making it hard to measure long-term success. Preparing for the accreditor’s next visit in October is a top priority, Jenkins-Scott said.
“We’re taking all of those recommendations and really trying to strengthen the areas that need to be strengthened,” Jenkins-Scott said. “That’s a big deal for us to get ready for that. We’re doing really well by our students, but we haven’t been telling our story well.”
Jenkins-Scott said she is determined to strengthen the college. Her plans include surrounding herself with a capable team and bringing community members, civic leaders, and employers on campus to see for themselves how higher education is helping local students, most from low-income backgrounds struggling with food insecurity, child care, and housing costs.
Jenkins-Scott’s hope is that momentum and excitement around the school will help attract new students and donations. Her plan also stands to benefit from plans by the City of Boston and the state to expand free community college programs. The average annual cost of attending RCC currently is $10,554, according to the Education Department. The college offers 24 associate degree programs in areas ranging from accounting and nursing to biotechnology.
The mantra for the task ahead? “Increase enrollment, increase enrollment, increase enrollment,” Jenkins-Scott said.
Enrollment at RCC, and at community colleges nationally, has declined in recent years as more people enter the workforce rather than pursue degrees, and amid a drop in the number of college-age students. RCC has 1,540 students today, down about 37 percent from a decade ago.
But Jenkins-Scott said she sees positive signs that RCC is moving in the right direction, including a 7 percent increase in enrollment last fall from the previous year, following a steep dip during the pandemic. Massachusetts community colleges collectively enrolled 13,000 fewer students between fall 2019 and fall 2022.
“We take every little bit of growth that we can,” Jenkins-Scott said, adding that the college has seen strong interest in a new clean energy program, which trains students to operate smart building technology.
The milestone birthday has allowed RCC to reflect on challenges it has overcome, Jenkins said. They include the community-driven effort to open the college’s doors in 1973, which followed the fight to prevent the Inner Belt, an eight-lane highway, from cutting through the neighborhood — a reality that pained predominantly Black communities across the country around that time.
“The most successful community organizing that had ever happened in Roxbury still to date was stopping the highway,” said Byron Rushing, a former state representative. “I do not think you can understate how segregated and anti-Black this city was.”
The community felt a college could bring economic opportunity to the neighborhood, as well as a central place to gather for events and conversations, Rushing said.
“It’s very exciting as we’re celebrating to remember the legacy and the history of what got us here,” Jenkins-Scott said. “We have to continue to fight to make sure that this community gets its share of those resources.”
Earlier this year, the college invited religious and community leaders to campus to speak candidly about the college’s future. RCC officials also sought to learn what people living and working in the community want to see from the school, including more internship opportunities for local high school students and a designated career services employee to communicate with employers.
“It was a wonderful turnout,” Hammond said. “People were interested in coming, and we said straight up front: ‘Listen, we understand there’s an uphill climb here. There’s been a lot of bad news for RCC over many years. We just ask you to keep an open mind. Let’s talk about some of the good news. And we need you to help us understand what other good things we need to be doing.’”
The college should reflect the community of Roxbury, Jenkins-Scott said, so she wants residents to “help us define it and make it what it can be and should be.”
For Haqikah Greaves, 26, RCC became a second home as she was expecting her first child while pursuing her associate’s degree in health careers. She said staff, professors, and students go above and beyond to help one another. But students don’t always know about all of the resources available, including assistance with food costs, mental health support, and assistance navigating public benefits, she said.
Challenges such as car repairs and health care costs often cause community college students to drop out or to put their studies on hold, said Lisa Carter, RCC’s associate dean of students. Her office aims to provide relief to keep students on track with their studies.
As president of the student government association, Greaves also tried to raise awareness of resources available on campus.
“I try to do the best I can to show students that it’s possible to go through something in life [such as pregnancy] and still end up graduating,” said Greaves, who graduated in May and now plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Simmons University. “RCC supported me throughout my pregnancy. They were all there for me.”
State Senator Liz Miranda grew up running track at Roxbury Community College’s Reggie Lewis Center, surrounded by people reminding her “how important this institution that we fought for was in our community.”
“What Dr. Jackie Jenkins-Scott has done to revive and restore the college’s history and its roots is incredible,” Miranda said. “She’s been really good about co-creating a path forward with the community and elected leaders.”
Correspondent Ellie Wolfe contributed to this report.
Hilary Burns can be reached at hilary.burns@globe.com.