Last summer President Barack Obama proposed a 10-year, $12 billion initiative to increase significantly the number of community college graduates. He made the announcement at Macomb Community College, where he was introduced by Joe Iezzi, a 54-year-old Macomb graduate who had been laid off after working as a steelworker in the automobile industry for 23 years. When the auto-parts supplier he worked for closed down, Iezzi returned to college to complete an associate degree in heating and air conditioning, a credential that helped land him a full-time job at a local hospital. His case was a perfect example of the role community colleges could play in retooling the human capital of a dynamic economy as labor is shed from declining industries and is sought by growing sectors.