Arguing that the nation's educational system must be renewed to empower citizens and communities, this two-part monograph describes the importance of building learning communities and offers a blueprint to guide community colleges in this undertaking. The first part of the monograph provides three chapters focusing on creating a vision for the 21st century. Chapter I presents guiding principles to building learning communities, or the supportive context that empowers individuals to learn what they need at any time and in any place, and describes barriers to implementing a community-building mission. Chapter II examines significant social trends and their implications for community colleges into the next century, while chapter III argues that, to become community-building institutions, colleges must focus on the community and its organizations, build a learning community through partnerships, and establish a community-based curriculum. The second part provides three chapters outlining a process by which colleges and their communities can define a common vision of the future and translate that vision into programs and services. Chapter IV focuses on initiating the planning process, addressing issues related to pre-planning and direction setting, while chapter V describes the data-collection phase of the process, highlighting the use of a future task force and internal and external scans. Finally, chapter VI explores issues related to implementing the community-building mission, focusing on the implementation of the community-based curriculum and partnerships, the development of a 5-year action plan, and evaluating efforts. Contains 87 references. (TGI)