Rufus Gasper

Welcome to the Fall 2026 executive edition of Innovatus, the magazine of the League for Innovation in the Community College. In this issue, we explore Developing Essential Resources—a topic that has become increasingly important as community and technical colleges navigate changing economic conditions, evolving student needs, emerging technologies, workforce transformation, and continued pressure to accomplish more with limited resources.

For community college leaders, resource development can no longer be viewed primarily through the lens of budgets or fundraising. While financial strength remains critical, today’s most effective institutions are taking a much broader view of what constitutes a resource. Facilities, technology, partnerships, people, data, institutional knowledge, community relationships, and student support systems all represent assets that can be developed, connected, and deployed in new ways to advance the institutional mission.

The question, therefore, is not simply, What resources do we have? Increasingly, the leadership question is, How can we use what we have differently—and what new capacity must we develop—to better serve students and communities?

The articles in this issue offer compelling examples of colleges answering that question.

In “Beyond the Budget: Rethinking Resources in the Community College” and “Reimagining Community College Investment: Building Financial Resilience Beyond Tighter Budgets,” Randy Weber and Justin Lonon, respectively, challenge traditional assumptions about institutional resources and encourage leaders to think more strategically about financial capacity, investment, and long-term sustainability.

Kristie Fisher presents another dimension of resource development in “Repurposing Existing Infrastructure to Create a Regional Workforce Hub”: recognizing that an existing institutional asset can generate new value when aligned with regional workforce and economic priorities. It is a reminder that innovation does not always require building something new; sometimes it requires seeing existing resources through a different lens.

Technology represents another essential institutional resource, but technology alone does not transform the student experience. In “Designing the Student Journey: Technology, Trust, and the Human Connection,” Dan Phelan reminds us that successful digital transformation must ultimately strengthen, rather than replace, the relationships and human connections that help students navigate college and achieve their goals.

Other articles illustrate that developing essential resources also means investing intentionally in the conditions students need to succeed. Pamela Haney, in “Moraine Valley Addresses Food Insecurity With Project Care Food Pantry,” demonstrates how institutions can respond to barriers that extend well beyond the classroom. Similarly, in “From Orientation to Connection: Reimagining Onboarding as an Institutional Strategy” Jamee Harrington challenges us to view onboarding not simply as an event, but as an institutional resource for creating belonging, connection, and momentum from the beginning of a student’s experience.

Taken together, these stories suggest an important leadership principle: Resource development is ultimately about institutional capacity. It is the capacity to identify assets, build partnerships, make strategic investments, remove barriers, adapt infrastructure, deploy technology thoughtfully, and align people and resources around student and community success.

This broader definition is particularly important today. Community colleges have long distinguished themselves by their ability to adapt—to respond quickly to changing workforce demands, emerging technologies, demographic shifts, and the evolving needs of the communities they serve. That adaptability itself may be one of our most crucial resources.

The challenge before us is to ensure that our institutions are not simply managing scarcity but actively creating capacity.

As you read this issue of Innovatus, I encourage you to consider your own institution through that lens. What resources are currently underdeveloped or underutilized? What existing assets could be repurposed? What partnerships could extend your institution’s capacity? Where could technology improve both efficiency and human connection? And, most importantly, how can the resources you develop translate into greater opportunity, mobility, and success for the students and communities you serve?

At the League for Innovation in the Community College, we believe innovation is not defined simply by creating something new. It is also reflected in our ability to see new possibilities in what we already have, connect resources in new ways, and develop the institutional capacity necessary to meet the challenges ahead.

We hope the ideas and examples in this issue inspire conversations—and action—across your institution. Please email Cynthia Wilson with topics you would like us to explore or innovations you wish to showcase in future issues of Innovatus.