Trust for Civic Life and Democracy Notes Perspectives Explore the Civic Role of Rural Community Colleges

​A new piece from Democracy Notes Perspectives, authored by Caitlin Shrigley of the Trust for Civic Life, highlights the often-overlooked role community colleges play as civic infrastructure in rural communities. Using Old Fort, North Carolina, a small town rebuilding its economy around outdoor recreation after the decline of the textile and timber industries, the piece shows how McDowell Technical Community College has become a trusted convener, technical partner, and gathering space for local civic life. The article argues that philanthropy frequently underinvests in community colleges despite their outsized role in sustaining trust and collaboration within rural communities. For NCDD's network, the piece offers a valuable case study in how educational institutions can serve as civic anchors, supporting the cross-sector partnerships and community-driven problem-solving central to collaborative governance. The piece is part of a broader series on higher education and democracy, underwritten by Lumina Foundation.

---

---

A recent piece published through Democracy Notes Perspectives examines a civic partner often left out of philanthropic and democracy-building conversations: the community college. Author Caitlin Shrigley, who leads learning and evaluation for the Trust for Civic Life, a national collaborative of funders supporting rural civic efforts, uses the town of Old Fort, North Carolina, as a case study in what that overlooked partnership can accomplish. Once dependent on textile and timber industries, Old Fort has spent recent years reinventing itself as a hub for hiking, mountain biking, and outdoor recreation, with a coalition of local organizations, including a community development group, a longstanding church camp, a regional biking association, and the U.S. Forest Service, driving that transformation.

McDowell Technical Community College sits at the center of this effort, illustrating a pattern the article identifies across rural America: postsecondary institutions frequently serve a dual mission, building workforce skills while simultaneously strengthening local civic life. Community colleges often function as trusted conveners whose involvement lends credibility to local projects, and their campuses provide accessible gathering spaces, sometimes called third spaces, where community members can meet and collaborate. In Old Fort, the college's Trail School trains students in trail construction, stone masonry, and heavy equipment operation, directly supporting the town's growing mountain-biking economy while also positioning the region within a broader emerging field of professionalized trail building that now draws students from as far as California and Colorado. This kind of institutional partnership speaks directly to NCDD's interest in collaborative action, showing how civic infrastructure and workforce development can reinforce one another in practice.
​
The piece pushes back against a common national narrative that frames higher education as disconnected from local community needs, arguing that in rural America, community colleges are often viewed as indispensable partners in solving shared problems and building a shared future. For NCDD's network and other funders and practitioners working in rural civic spaces, the article offers a reminder that strengthening democracy sometimes requires looking beyond traditional civic organizations to institutions already embedded in community life. https://democracynotesperspectives.substack.com/p/philanthropy-overlooks-a-key-rural