This paper describes the environmental scan that the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office initiated in preparation for its development of a strategic plan. In this scanning effort, environment is defined as "a search for information about the system's external setting." The trends are roughly grouped into five areas: demographics, economics, sociocultural change, politics, and technology/science. The scan focuses on long-term trends in the environment of the state. Some selected trends in the interest of the major factors include: (1) in the demographic factor, trends in aging, immigration, and population composition; in the economic factor, evolution of the labor market, globalization of commerce, and shrinking agricultural production; (2) in the sociocultural factor, increasing multiculturalism, persistence in residential segregation, shifts in gender roles, teen expectations, and consumerism; (3) in the political factor, growth in the areas of Latino influence, distrust in government, demand for accountability, conservatism, and low voter turnout; and (4) in the technological factor, information technology, energy supply, and environmental safety. The paper attempts to synthesize the components of the environmental scan in order to demonstrate how policy-relevant analysis can occur. Using the analysis, an administrator could formulate a long-term plan for achievement of college goals. (Contains an annotated bibliography with 78 references.) (NB)