“HCC Northeast and the North Forest Community: One year later

Members of the “NF Blue Ribbon Committee” formed after annexation.

By Dr. Margaret F. Fisher
President, HCC Northeast

This Status Report, “HCC-Northeast and North Forest Community: One Year Later” is presented to provide an update on activities since Annexation in November 2009. Great strides have been made by the College in collaboration with the North Forest Independent School District and the North Forest Community.
Notable among the great achievements is the development of a dynamic “Blue-Ribbon” Committe that has established a Vision for its work with the College and has developed an Incubator Process for implementation into a permanent HCC Campus facility within the North Forest Community.

Shortly after annexation was approved by the North Forest Community on November 3, 2009, the Boards of Trustees of Houston Community College District and North Forest Independent School District approved a parnership agreement that would allow HCC-Northeast to lease classroom space at Forest Brook Middle School to establish the early beginnings of the HCC-North Forest Vocational Technical Campus. A schedule of classes was developed, and seven classroom were leased to offer courses on weekday evenings and on Saturdays.
During the course of the year, over 500 traditional college students have enrolled in college-based courses at the North Forest Campus and have benefited from the tuition reduction that resulted from annexation. Over 260 students have enrolled in Dual Credit courses during that last twelve months and have benefited from the Tuition Waiver that was granted by the HCC Board of Trustees for all in-District Students in 2003. Thus, nearly 800 North Forest residents have benefited from college courses and instructional-support services that are now available to them at an accesible, affordable, and attractive location in the North Forest Community.