“I started the application for an Adult Charter School when I realized that I was Dean for Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning in a Community College where 95% of the students who came from ‘East of River’ were never going to finish. They needed a bridge to post-secondary Education and Training.” This was the response that the founding Executive Director, Connie Spinner, gave when asked why she started Community College Preparatory Academy Public Charter School (CC Prep).

Washington, DC is the nation’s capital and one of four knowledge-based economies in the nation. It has the largest proportions of residents with a Bachelors's or better. It is also a city where 37% of its residents are ‘functionally illiterate.' Bridging the gap to employment for those residents requires more than high school completion. These folks must be both college and career-ready.

CC Prep was started in 2013 as a blended learning, secondary bridge program for adults who needed a high school diploma, college readiness skills and/or workforce skills necessary to compete in DC’s constantly changing workforce skills environment. In other words, CC Prep has to create individuals with the capacity to be lifelong learners. As the demands of the workforce environment change, CC Prep has changed and will continue to do so in order to make the best use of education as a tool to support workforce development in the 21st century.

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