ACCT

ACCT and CCbenefits Finalize Intellectual Property Purchase
Trustee Association and Company Announce New Phase of Partnership

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and CCbenefits Inc. are pleased to announce that CCbenefits has purchased the rights to their jointly-developed Socioeconomic Impact Model (SEIM), which uses economic theory and statistics to estimate the role that community, technical and junior colleges play in local economies.

Representatives from both organizations said that the deal would accelerate innovation and maximize value for ACCT member colleges and other customers of CCbenefits.

ACCT is proud of its role in helping to establish CCbenefits, which has provided tremendous assistance to community colleges all across the nation; said ACCT president and CEO J. Noah Brown. With the transfer of the intellectual property rights to CCbenefits, a new chapter in the relationship has begun, one that will permit CCbenefits to grow and prosper, to the benefit of community colleges and their boards.

Dr. Kjell Christophersen, president and senior economist of CCbenefits and lead developer of the SEIM, agreed. We can now develop and expand our products and services so we can better meet the changing needs of our college customers. ACCT's members will benefit from improvements that might not have been developed under the royalty agreement.

The two organizations remain committed to working together. Brown said that he looks forward to continuing to work with CCbenefits in our common mission to educate policymakers about the economic power of community colleges and their role in maintaining our nation's global competitiveness.

We will continue to give credit to ACCT for having had the vision to promote economic impact studies for member colleges; added Christophersen. We will seek to establish an even closer relationship with ACCT as they will now become a source of new ideas we can add to the model to benefit the colleges.

CCbenefits also purchased rights to the Community College Strategic Planner (CCSP), a web-based tool developed by the company to help colleges assess their programs in light of the local economy and labor market demand.

Our new partnership with ACCT will allow us to pursue more aggressive development of the CCSP, said Andrew Crapuchettes, CEO of CCbenefits. The CCSP is and will be a critical tool for colleges that are working to create a more prepared and competitive workforce.

The agreement is expected to facilitate the merger of CCbenefits and its sister company, Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI), which provides data and analysis solutions to workforce boards, economic development groups, and government agencies. We can pursue the college market with far more flexibility and innovativeness since we can now include all EMSI products of interest to the colleges, noted Christophersen, who is also vice-president of EMSI.

CCbenefits was formed in February of 2000 in collaboration with the ACCT, which funded the initial development of their groundbreaking impact model, the SEIM.

According to Christophersen, the SEIM is unique because earlier impact studies had only captured 10 percent of a college's impact. We add the economic growth and development impacts generated from the past students served by the college. We also add investment analysis of the value of the college education received relative to the costs incurred from the perspectives of the students and the taxpayers. Finally, we measure the external social impacts associated with postsecondary education, such as reduced crime, health problems, and unemployment. The SEIM is far more comprehensive than any other impact analysis model available.

Since 2001, more than 700 colleges in the U.S. and Canada have purchased socioeconomic impact studies from CCbenefits. The studies consistently show that community colleges are vital players in their local economies and sound taxpayer investments.

For Christophersen, this is the key finding of the research made possible by his company& partnership with ACCT. Education is a great investment, not just for the individual student but for the whole community.


About ACCT
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States, Canada, and England.

Contact:
Liz Henkin, ACCT
(202) 775-4667
ehenkin@acct.org


About CCbenefits Inc.
CCbenefits was founded in 2000 in collaboration with the Association of Community College Trustees. It provides community and technical colleges with reports that quantify their socioeconomic benefits, as well as strategic planning tools that help colleges prepare for a changing economy. CCbenefits has served over 700 colleges in the U.S. and Canada.

Contact:
Gabe Rench, CCbenefits
(208) 882-3567
gabe@ccbenefits.com