Strategic Plan
Changing lives. Empowering communities.
Strategic Plan 2024-2028
Overview of Strategic Planning Process
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) had great success with its previous Strategic Plan. Much effort was put into creating it during and shortly after the pandemic. The process encompassed so many of the College’s stakeholders for so long that by the time the plan was finalized and approved by the Board, much of the work had been done to meet the goals set forth in the plan.
With one of the two high level initiatives well underway by early 2024 it became clear that DMACC needed to adjust some of the goals. This current Strategic Plan was drafted in early 2024. As part of the College’s commitment to shared governance, a task force convened to draft the updates to Goal 2 in this current plan.
Des Moines Area Community College Strategic Plan 2024-2028
This Strategic Plan is reflective of DMACC’s mission, vision, and values.
Mission:
DMACC provides quality, affordable, student-centered education and training to empower our diverse communities and to serve as a catalyst for economic development.
Vision:
DMACC’s vision is to improve the quality of life for our students, support our communities, and cultivate a prosperous Iowa.
Values:
Accessible Learning: DMACC provides accessible and affordable life-long learning opportunities.
Diversity & Inclusion: DMACC embraces the differences of individuals, champions mutual respect, and provides enriching environments for growth and understanding.
Quality & Excellence: DMACC delivers high-quality instruction and services utilizing standards of excellence, ethics, and professionalism.
Service: DMACC educates, supports, and provides resources to develop skills and talent for a competitive workforce.
Engagement: DMACC fosters partnerships in and with the businesses and communities we serve.
DMACC’s Strategic Goals
The Changing Lives. Empowering Communities: 2024-2028 Strategic Plan sets DMACC’s institutional direction for the next five years, enabling the institution to progress through a series of changes necessary to its mission. The strategic goals and associated indicators are numbered to assist with tracking and references, not to imply hierarchy.
Strategic Goal 1: DMACC will change lives by improving student success with Guided Pathways
Within the Guided Pathways model, students who are still deciding on a degree program can explore their options within a pathway without losing time, credits, or money. DMACC will support career exploration and help students gain clarity on their futures, including career planning and/or successful transfer. In Guided Pathways, students become part of a community, with resources and a success team to support them, ensuring an effective way to learn, explore, and succeed.
Key Strategies for Advance Student Success
1.1: Increase degree-seeking student progression by increasing the percentage of students who earn 15+ credit hours in the first semester and increasing the percentage of students who earn 30+ credit hours in the first year.
1.2: Increase part time degree-seeking student progress by increasing the credit hours earned for those enrolled in less than 12 credit hours during their first semester.
1.3: Increase Fall-to-Fall retention of degree-seeking students across all racial groups.
1.4: Increase student proficiency on Essential Learning Outcomes by pathway.
Strategic Goal 2: DMACC will leverage resources to create a diverse and inclusive community in which all people are valued and supported and will celebrate the similarities and differences among us. In doing so, we will prepare the DMACC community to live, to learn, and to work together in a global society.
Key Strategies for Diversity and Inclusion
2.1: DMACC will strive to ensure that the overall composition of its faculty and staff reflects human diversity as appropriate within its mission, vision, and values for the constituencies it serves.
2.2: DMACC will strive to improve student retention, persistence and completion using goals that are ambitious, attainable, and appropriate to our mission, vision, and values, our student populations, and our educational offerings.
2.3: DMACC will build and implement educational programs that recognize human and cultural diversity and provide students with growth opportunities and lifelong skills to live and work in a multicultural world.
2.4: DMACC will foster a climate of respect among all students, faculty, staff and administrators from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives.
Strategic Goal 3: DMACC will provide quality and excellence in all areas across the district.
DMACC continues to improve the quality and excellence of its educational and student services offerings. Providing a quality student experience also requires efficient and effective institutional operations. Operational excellence is achieved when institutional resources are aligned with the core mission, and high performance is matched with fiscal stewardship on the behalf of stakeholders. The college also recognizes that investing in the quality and excellence of its staff and faculty through professional development is vital to its mission.
Key Strategies for Quality and Excellence:
3.1: Continue to be a preferred employer in the region where employees are fully equipped to perform their job responsibilities at high levels.
3.2: Bolster student enrollment, success, and completion to help students move in and move on.
3.3: Increase funding for student scholarships, and facility and program enhancements through the Foundation.
3.4: Build and maintain a culture of analysis-informed decision-making across the institution.
3.5: Provide sound fiscal management to ensure the financial integrity of the College and its supportive services to meet the needs of our stakeholders.
3.6: Strengthen internal communication, district operations, and facilities planning.
Strategic Goal 4: DMACC will educate, support, and provide resources to develop skills and talent for a competitive workforce. To meet this challenge, DMACC will improve its financial stewardship and economic development efforts.
DMACC exists in a vibrant sector of Iowa and receives significant financial support from students and families, state and federal funding, and property taxpayers. The college’s financial strength and stewardship allows it to provide education and training opportunities for all communities and to partner in initiatives that further the mission. DMACC will continue to serve as a catalyst for economic development by maintaining a responsible allocation of resources.
Key Strategies for Financial Stewardship
4.1: Maintain sound financial performance.
4.2: Align financial resources to its strategic goals.
4.3: Achieve greater agility and efficiency by streamlining processes and establishing clear organizational roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities.
Key Strategies for Economic Development
4.4: Develop and use a transparent and data-informed process to identify high-demand, labor market needs appropriate to the mission of the College, whether credit or non-credit, and will develop or revise programs to meet those needs.
4.5: Actively partner with external stakeholders, including businesses, organizations, donors, alumni, and governing bodies.
Strategic Goal 5: DMACC will foster partnerships in and with the communities we serve.
DMACC is a full partner in community growth and development across the district. The college provides opportunities for community education and engagement consistent with its mission to empower diverse communities. In order to strengthen its partnerships, DMACC will improve communication and collaboration with community organizations.
Key Strategies for Community Outreach and Engagement
5.1: Create goals aligned with DMACC’s mission to guide community outreach.
5.2: Identify and partner with community organizations that share DMACC’s mission to create mutually beneficial outcomes.
5.3: Establish a centralized resource for community outreach and partnership information to improve tracking and collaboration with the public.
5.4: Strengthen relationships with local school districts to create seamless pathways for more students to enter DMACC.
5.5: Partner with social service organizations to identify and meet the needs of underserved communities and populations.