Illinois Community Colleges Launch Statewide Brand Campaign to Promote Vital Role in Illinois
Illinois Community Colleges Launch Statewide Brand Campaign to Promote Vital Role in Illinois
Springfield, Ill. (Nov. 7, 2023) – The community colleges of Illinois have joined forces through the Illinois Community College Marketing Collaborative (ICCMC) to announce the launch of a new statewide brand. The Community Colleges of Illinois “For Every Student, For Every Community” campaign focuses on community colleges in Illinois and the many valuable and vital benefits they bring to the state.
The community colleges of Illinois are 48 powerhouses of grassroots opportunity, defining success student by student and community by community. Illinois community colleges create a stronger and more competitive Illinois and a better quality of life for state residents.
The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) reports the Illinois community college system is the third largest in the country, serving nearly 504,000 students each year. Illinois is #1 in the nation in terms of its community college students earning bachelor’s degrees and serves the most diverse group of students and communities of any post-secondary option in Illinois.
The campaign tagline “For Every Student, For Every Community” highlights the colleges’ common focus, and the messaging centers on five truths that all Illinois community colleges share.
On our campuses, everyone belongs. We serve the most diverse group of students and communities of any post-secondary option in Illinois. We feel like home, and we open up the world.
We are outcomes-driven. Our degree and stackable certificate programs help every student forge a clear, personalized path toward their goal, giving them a sense of accomplishment and greater control over their future.
We open up access to more rewarding futures. We make the proven and substantial benefits of higher education available to the greatest number of people by doing whatever it takes to help them succeed.
We’re flexible, innovative, and agile. We meet students where they are and make the most of their prior learning experiences. We can ramp up and re-engineer workforce development programs quickly, helping businesses and government stay ahead.
We’re dedicated and accountable to our communities. We return our communities’ investment by boosting local education levels and social mobility, developing new generations of local leaders, and being a trusted, proactive partner for local economic and civic ambitions.
The campaign will also promote how Illinois community colleges support local workforce and economic development. Illinois’s community colleges are the largest provider of public workforce training in the state. An ICCB study reports in the academic year 2020, Illinois community colleges worked with nearly 9,800 unique employers and showed an estimated total economic output of $3.5 billion on the statewide economy.
"Illinois community colleges are deeply woven into the fabric of the communities they serve, nurturing dreams, and building brighter futures together. Our community colleges continue to serve our students as gateways to better lives through the quality education and training they provide. It is that training that, in turn, fuels the industries that call Illinois home and creates economic prosperity for our communities," said ICCB executive director Brian Durham.
The campaign will share student, alumni, faculty, and staff stories on The Community Colleges of Illinois Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn channels with hashtags #4everystudent4everycommunity and #ilcommunitycollegeproud.
“Illinois community colleges place the benefits of higher education within reach for everyone,” said Jim Reed, executive director of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association." Our new hashtag '4EveryStudent4EveryCommunity' emphasizes our unique focus on local learning partnerships between our colleges and the students and communities they serve."
Campaign digital advertising launches this week and will be promoted on campuses and communities across the state. For more information about the community colleges of Illinois visit www.ilcommunitycolleges.org.
About the Illinois Community College Marketing Collaborative The Illinois Community College Marketing Collaborative (ICCMC) was formed in 2019 to bring together marketing resources from the 48 Illinois community college districts. The mission of ICCMC is to share best practices among district marketing professionals, in addition to creating and managing a comprehensive, statewide community college brand.
