The Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC) is a voluntary association of Ohio’s 23 public community colleges. The Association was founded in 1993.
Since the doors of the first community college in Ohio opened, the number of two-year colleges in the Buckeye State has grown to include 23 innovative institutions that have become an important part of the state's higher education system. Serving more than 300,000 students today, Ohio's community colleges play a key role in educating and training the workforce our state needs to revitalize the eco
nomy and attract new businesses. Dedicated to advancing those efforts and furthering the mission of the state's two-year colleges, the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC), whose membership includes the trustees and presidents of all 23 community colleges in Ohio, serves as an advocacy organization on behalf of community colleges. To that end, the OACC works closely with state and federal policy makers to educate and inform them on the issues that have a direct impact on community colleges. Prior to the establishment of the OACC, Ohio's community college presidents and trustees were represented by several different groups. The first was the Ohio Organization of Technical Colleges (OOTC). Established in 1972, this organization represented 16 technical college presidents whose agenda items included: funding, legislative monitoring, and promotion of technical education. In 1976 the OOTC approved a constitution creating the Ohio Technical and Community College Association (OTCCA), which the OOTC later joined. Then, in 1986, the trustees from 21of the 23 community colleges in Ohio decided to form an organization and established the Ohio Technical and Community College Association Directory of Trustees. which later became the Ohio Association of Two Year College Trustees in 1991. Finally on May 15, 1993, after recognizing the value and benefit of bringing both the trustees and presidents together as part of the same organization, these two groups merged and established the OACC. Today, the OACC is a robust organization that is fully committed to ensuring the continued prosperity and success of Ohio's community colleges and their students.
