• Partnering with organizations that work with underserved, underrepresented, disadvantaged, and minority populations.
   
• Striving to incorporate culturally responsive concepts throughout the curricula and developing new programs to align with current trends and labor market needs.
   
• “Hudson Helps Resource Center” that provides essential services focusing on basic needs beyond the classroom including a Care Team, food pantries, nutritional counseling, assistance with SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) applications, Career Closet, emergency financial assistance, Chromebook loaners, social services and mental health counseling, and “Single Stop” benefits screening.
   
• “Hudson Scholars,” winner of the national 2024 Bellwether Legacy Award and 2021-22 League for Innovation in the Community College’s Innovation of Year Award, that provides proactive advisement, financial stipends, and early academic intervention to ensure a greater number of students facing financial challenges, language barriers, employment concerns, and family responsibilities complete their college education, achieve their goals, and realize their dreams. Since its inception, the number of students served has increased from 800 to more than 3,000.
   
• Focusing on climate, culture, and community; addressing morale, salaries, and mutually respectful relationships among all employees. 
   
• Maintaining the College’s diversity, equity and inclusion infrastructure with guidelines for best practices in recruitment, hiring, succession planning, safety, and professional development. Diversity, recruitment and retention are priorities in strategic planning, institutional frameworks, and budget development – from the President and Board of Trustees to employee and student engagement at all levels and in all areas.
   
• Offering HCCC’s faculty and staff a tuition-reimbursement program that provides access to a wide range of professional development opportunities including workshops, academic and certificate programs, and activities that promote inclusion and belonging. This past year, employees received a collective $500,000 of College funding to support their professional development.

Hudson County Community College’s School of Nursing and Health Professions offers courses in Registered and Practical Nursing, Radiography, Community Healthcare Navigator, Exercise Science, Health Science, Health Services, Medical Assisting, Medical Billing and Coding, Medical Science – Pre-Professional, Paramedic Science, and Personal Fitness Trainer.

For more information about the 2024 HEED Health Professions Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.

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About Hudson County Community College

Hudson County Community College serves more than 20,000 credit and non-credit students annually. The College offers more than 90 degree and certificate programs, including award-winning English as a Second Language; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management; Nursing and Health Professions; and Humanities and Social Sciences. The HCCC Culinary/Hospitality Management program was ranked number six in the U.S. by Best Choice Schools. The College’s School of Continuing Education and Workforce Development offers cutting-edge, industry-recognized, stackable credentials in alignment with high-priority workforce needs.

HCCC has partnerships with four-year colleges and universities in the greater New Jersey-New York area and beyond, accommodating seamless transfer of credits for further undergraduate and graduate education.

The College’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been recognized with the 2021 Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Northeast Region Equity Award; the “INSIGHT Into Diversity” 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award; the “INSIGHT Into Diversity” 2022 and 2023 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award, and 2024 Inspiring Programs in Business and Health Professions Awards. The College received the 2023 Outstanding Member Institution Award from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). HCCC was a finalist in seven categories of this year’s American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) national “Awards of Excellence” and earned CEO of the Year, Faculty of the Year, and Student Success Awards.  

For the third consecutive year, HCCC was selected as one of 18 community colleges in the United States to be named the “2024 Most Promising Places to Work in Community Colleges” by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) in collaboration with “Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.” HCCC was one of 22 community colleges in the nation, and the only college in New Jersey, to be recognized by ModernThink LLC and the “Chronicle of Higher Education” as a 2022, 2023 and 2024 “Great College to Work For®.” HCCC is one of two colleges in the United States to be named a Top Ten Finalist in all three program categories for the nationally recognized 2023 Bellwether Awards, and received the 2023 Bellwether Award for the College’s cutting-edge “Hudson Scholars” program, which also won the 2024 Bellwether Legacy Award. 

The College’s exemplary work in advancing student success has been recognized with 2023 “Leader College of Distinction” designation by Achieving the Dream, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing community colleges as catalysts for equity and mobility in their communities. HCCC was also presented the Campus Prevention Network Seal of Prevention in 2023 and 2024 for demonstrating leadership in digital prevention programming focused on student safety, well-being, and inclusion.

About Insight Into Diversity

Insight Into Diversity magazine is the leader in advancing best practices in DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in higher education. Through thought-provoking print and online articles, we share expert advice, valuable resources, in-depth profiles of top DEI programs at colleges and universities, headline news, and much more to help keep our readers informed and empower them to advance DEI initiatives at their institutions. To further our mission, we created the Insight Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award in 2012. The HEED Award — including the more targeted Insight Into Diversity Health Professions, Law School, and Community College HEED Awards — is the only national honor to recognize institutions of higher education for their outstanding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Current, archived, and digital issues of Insight Into Diversity magazine are available online at insightintodiversity.com.