Lorain County Community College among eight community colleges named in WestEd Center for Economic Mobility Back on Track Initiative
As part of the national cohort LCCC will launch pathways to help adult learners advance their careers
Elyria, Ohio, March 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lorain County Community College has announced the launch of Back on Track, an initiative to build pathways from low-wage jobs to family-sustaining careers. LCCC is among eight colleges partnering with the National Center for Inquiry and Improvement and WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility to create three new pathways designed to meet local labor market needs while helping adult learners advance in their careers.
“The Back on Track initiative is another way that LCCC can ensure we are meeting our students where they are and strengthening our commitment to adult learners,” said LCCC President Marcia J. Ballinger, Ph.D. “We know that earning potential and economic mobility are directly tied to educational attainment and when we help students transition from lower-paying entry-level positions into more technical, certification-required roles, they can achieve family-sustaining careers and build a better future for themselves and their families.”
LCCC’s Back on Track pathways will align with Career by Design, a college-wide effort focused on supporting individual and family needs related to career and employment. Informed by Career by Design data, LCCC’s three new pathways will:
- Bridge individuals in existing customer service or frontline roles into information technology positions, allowing them to apply their first-hand knowledge and use of intake systems to build and enhance those systems within their industries.
- Create direct pathways from frontline healthcare into medical coding, insurance, and healthcare technology.
- Connect individuals with entry-level machining experience into advanced manufacturing certifications and automation careers.
The nationwide project is designed to serve 600 to 800 students initially. Looking beyond the first cohort, LCCC will design each pathway to serve as an ongoing entry point into career advancement, building capacity to scale the project’s impact into other career programs throughout a variety of disciplines.
“As an institution, we’ve always prioritized the ability to scale successful initiatives in order to broaden reach and amplify impact,” Ballinger said. “As a cohort of eight, we’ll have national best practices to learn from as we plan and then transition into scalability. Given this, we anticipate Back on Track being a vital initiative within LCCC’s THRIVE 2035 vision of advancing economic mobility for individuals and families and creating a thriving economy and community.”
Attachments
Kim Carrasquillo Lorain County Community College kcarrasq@lorainccc.edu
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