Streamlined Student Success Update

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The 3S (Streamlined Student Success)  initiative continues to make progress to ensure an exceptional experience for each City Colleges student. Since we launched the 3S initiative last year, our committees have been engaging with internal and external community members, vendors, and partners on each project: Strategic Rebranding, Website Redesign, and CRM.

College Video/Photoshoot Update:

The MarCom Department is working with our vendors to conduct a video and photoshoot at each of our colleges. The goal is to produce photography and video content to support our website redesign and to create advertising that is reflective of our student community.  You may see the team at your college in the coming weeks. Know a student who is interested in taking part in this project? Visit www.ccc.edu/photoshoot.

Rebranding Update:

Our new brand launched this summer, and little by little, you will see the updates in your inbox and across campus. You may also see our new look in the ad campaign that launched in July—on the sides of buses, on billboards, and online.  To learn more about the new brand, visit www.ccc.edu/branding.

Website Update:

It has been one year since we launched the first part of the new website: www.ccc.edu/apply

  • This August, we had an all-time high of 75k visitors.
  • We’ve had close to 500k visitors and 30k prospective student inquiries this year. We also know that about 50% of credit inquiries from the apply page became CCC applicants.

In Progress:

  • We’ve launched a flexible website template to support key initiatives.
  • A new City Colleges of Chicago Foundation site is underway and will launch this fall.
  • A new home for news, events, and student success stories is underway.
  • Next up: college homepages.

We’ve also worked on an overhaul of our full site navigation. Keep an eye out for a survey this fall to share your feedback! 

CRM Update:

Major Milestone Accomplished: CRM Solution Design

After careful analysis of CCC’s requirements for the CRM, our partner Servio has developed a high-level solution design document. This document outlines the approach we will use throughout the project. Servio presented the solution design to a wide range of CCC stakeholders. Additional meetings took place to present the plan and gather feedback from senior leadership at each of the seven colleges.

Over 45 senior leaders from 10 departments and each college reviewed and approved the approach outlined in the Solution Design Document.

CCC also developed a set of Guiding Principles to ensure alignment with all stakeholders throughout the project.

Next Steps:

  • CCC is now planning for the next phase of the project—the build. This phase is where the CRM will begin to take shape.
  • Servio and CCC will develop a detailed project plan based on the Solution Design Document. CCC staff and faculty will have a number of opportunities throughout the build to see demos of new functionality and provide feedback to the project team.
  • We’ve developed a framework for CRM communications governance that we will continue to build and map out.

Marketing Cloud Update:

Our new CRM tool, Marketing Cloud, continues to help us focus and target student communications before the wider CRM roll out, including:

Opt-in text codes and SMS capabilities are starting to roll out. Text “3S” to 42666 to check it out!  These codes will be used on advertising, for recruitment events, and other places to give a quick and easy way to opt in to CCC communications.  Remember to visit www.ccc.edu/3s to give your feedback and learn everything that’s going on with Streamlined Student Success.

Best,  City Colleges of Chicago

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Participate in a College-wide Photo & Video Shoot

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SEVEN COLLEGES. ONE SYSTEM. ONE YOU.

Participate in a College-wide Photo & Video Shoot

We’re proud of our students, and we want the rest of Chicago to be proud of you, too. This fall, as part of our 3S (Streamlined Student Success) Initiative, City Colleges is hosting a video and photoshoot at each of our seven colleges. CCC will use these photos and videos on the web, in advertisements, and in marketing material. You just might see yourself on billboards, digital advertisements, and more!Requirements:

  • Be an active student or alumni in good standing
  • Complete a photo release form
  • Be available for the full day of the shoot, on campus
  • Submit a short video clip explaining why you would like to represent your college

I’m Interested!

Submissions must be received before October 1.

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3S Update: Email signatures, ordering swag, and promoting your events

Dear faculty and staff,

The 3S (Streamlined Student Success) initiative continues to make progress to ensure an exceptional experience for each City Colleges student. Since we launched the 3S initiative last year, our committees have been engaging with internal and external community members, vendors, and partners on each project: Strategic Rebranding, Website Redesign, and CRM.

 

New branding, new tools for you!

This summer, we launched City Colleges’ new brand. You may see our new look in the ad campaign that launched in July, on the sides of buses, on billboards, and online. To find the most up-to-date Zoom backgrounds, PowerPoint templates, and email signatures, please visit www.ccc.edu/branding.

 

Need to order City Colleges merchandise?

The MarCom Department has re-launched the online store with newly branded items at www.ccc.edu/merch.

  • This site is for City Colleges employees, who must use a purchase order.
  • You can find swag like lanyards, water bottles, pens, tote bags, and more.

Have an event you’d like to promote?

  1. Add your upcoming events to the City Colleges event calendar by going to www.ccc.edu/eventform.
    • Any faculty or staff member can add events.
    •  Typically, events are approved and published within 2 business days.
    • Your event will then be listed on your college home page and at events.ccc.edu.
  2. Work with your marketing liaison to help get the word out.

Is your phone number up-to-date?

With the Fall semester starting, this is also a good time to make sure your contact information is up-to-date in HR Self-Service. If your phone number has changed, it will not be updated automatically in our system. To make sure your colleagues can contact you, please:

  1. Log in to HR Self-Service with your City Colleges username and password: City Colleges of Chicago – HR Self-Service (ccc.edu)
  2. Click on Personal Information > Phone Numbers.
  3. Confirm your business or mobile numbers are correct.
  4. Click “save” if you make any changes.
  5. If you need assistance, please reach out to the HR contact at your location.

Have a wonderful semester!

City Colleges of Chicago

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Meet the New City Colleges Brand

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Dear City Colleges community,

To ensure an exceptional experience for each City Colleges student, departments across our system continue to work diligently on a collaborative, multi-year project called Streamlined Student Success (3S). Since we launched the 3S initiative last year, our committees have been engaging with internal and external community members, vendors, and partners on each project: Strategic Rebranding, Website Redesign, and CRM.

Another Milestone Reached

The Rebrand Committee and the Marketing & Communications Department are excited to announce the launch of the new City Colleges of Chicago brand. We are officially saying goodbye to the “CCC swoosh” and hello to a new look, feel, and voice.

Visit www.ccc.edu/branding to see:

  • Newly designed assets, including Zoom backgrounds, letterhead, and PowerPoint templates to download
  • Branding guidelines and style guide
  • How to engage with the Marketing & Communications Department for LCD screens, press releases, events, emails, and more
  • Examples of some of our new digital advertising
    • You will see that our new advertising, which launched July 1, is more college-focused than in the past.

Over time, you will notice other changes around your college, on the website, and in your CCC inbox. We are so pleased to launch the Strategic Rebrand, and we will continue to implement it in the coming months.

Thank you to everyone who worked on this project, took our surveys, joined a focus group, and engaged with any part of the process. I am especially grateful to:

  • The Rebrand Executive Core Committee: Chancellor Salgado and Chief of Staff and Strategy Herrero
  • Each college president
  • The Strategic Rebrand Committee, which included faculty, staff, and student representation

This was truly a system-wide team effort.

If you have any questions about the new branding, please contact 3S@ccc.edu.

 

Sincerely,

David Deyhle

Vice Chancellor, Institutional Branding & Strategic Marketing

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July: Question of the month

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Have you seen the new City Colleges branding? What do you think? You can take a look at www.ccc.edu/branding.

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Streamlined Student Success (3S) Update

As the semester comes to a close, the Streamlined Student Success (3S) project continues on.

In 2021, City Colleges launched an ambitious, three-pronged project to ensure an exceptional student experience, including streamlining processes and improving technology.

What You’ve SeenYou may have seen some of the public-facing goals we’ve reached, including:

  • The “Apply to City Colleges” page at www.ccc.edu/apply
  • Our district-wide branding survey and focus groups
  • The new look of some of our student-facing emails

What You Might Not Have Seen

What you probably haven’t seen is all the behind-the-scenes work.

Strategic Rebrand Highlights:This project had three distinct phases: research, strategy, and creative.

  • After a very productive year, including surveys, focus groups, and steering committee meetings, City Colleges is preparing to launch a new look, new ad campaign, and new brand guidelines.
  • Look for more information this summer, and keep an eye out for the ad campaign that will be chosen based on our market research (happening now!). If you see a survey in your CCC inbox, please take it and let the committee know what you think!

Website Redesign:

  • Last summer our new “Apply” landing page launched, making it easier for prospective students to learn more about City Colleges, request information, take a virtual tour, and apply to City Colleges.
  • We’ve bolstered the back-end tools so that the Enrollment teams at each college have a clear lead dashboard.
  • A new web page template has been created and is in the process of being implemented. That means a lot to the digital marketing team, who won’t need as much time creating web pages from scratch when we need to tell Chicagoans about important initiatives and opportunities like Fresh Start, Future Ready, and more.
  • Because there are so many web pages and so much important content on our website, the committee and our vendor-partners are taking a “sprint” approach, so they can identify high-need areas and make an impact while the overall content mapping is well underway.
  • Soon, you’ll start to see the new branding and storytelling woven throughout the website.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)As you know, there are a lot of processes for students. Identifying and streamlining these processes is no small feat, and will ultimately involve all our departments.

  • The CRM team is starting at the beginning – with the new student application and related processes.
  • The Office of Information Technology and the Office of Enrollment Management are working closely with the colleges and impacted departments to determine what can stay, what needs to go, and what may need to be restructured.
  • A design solution has been presented to the CRM steering committee and leadership throughout City Colleges.
  • We have started to use a new tool to send our student emails. This will allow us to use open and click-through rates to determine the information students want and need – and adjust our communications accordingly.

As always, the 3S team wants you to be involved. If you have questions, please reach out to 3S@ccc.edu. But first, visit www.ccc.edu/3s, where we will continue to post a question of the month, take your suggestions, and keep you updated on the progress of this transformative district-wide project.

 

Thank you,

City Colleges of Chicago

3S Team

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Your 3S update

Dear City Colleges community,

To ensure an exceptional student experience from the moment a prospective student learns about City Colleges until they earn a credential, City Colleges of Chicago is embarking on Streamlined Student Success (3S): a three-pronged project to improve technology and simplify processes across departments. This initiative will ensure that the systems are in place to support each student as they reach their goals at City Colleges and beyond.

The 3S committees and our partners have jumped in to the research and planning phases of our three projects: branding, website, and CRM. Now, we need to hear from you! 

Take this quick survey to let us know how you’re feeling about the 3S initiative as we begin this multi-year project.

Get Involved:

  • Students: Check out the 3S Student Center to see how you can be a part of this project
  • Send your questions and concerns to 3s@ccc.edu
  • See a cool website? Share it with us as we think through our new website design
  • Answer our question of the month
  • Keep an eye out for opportunities to be a part of focus groups and user interviews

Remember:

  • With this project, our technology isn’t the only thing that will change – some of our behind-the-scenes and student-facing processes will need to change, too.
  • You can always check in on progress and updates at www.ccc.edu/3s, including who we are working with to make these improvements happen.
  • There will be lots of opportunities to get involved, including volunteering for focus groups, taking surveys, and more.

As always, you can contact 3s@ccc.edu. We’ll check in with you again soon!

 

Sincerely,

The Streamlined Student Success Project Committee

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May 1: Question of the Month

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Check your City Colleges email to take our newest survey about which marketing campaign you prefer.

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