In this testimony, the author talks briefly about how the District of Columbia Appleseed and her organization, Greater Washington Research at Brookings, came to sponsor the community college feasibility study they have released. In 2008, both Brookings and DC Appleseed published papers highlighting the importance of providing opportunities for DC residents to improve their skills, obtain and advance in higher paying jobs, move from poverty into the middle class, and contribute to the tax base that supports public services. The two organizations both pointed out that a strong full-service community college could make a major contribution to these goals and that Washington, DC, alone among major American cities, did not have one. Accordingly, the members worked together to highlight the issue and last year pulled together a working group that met several times to discuss options for creating a strong DC community college.