Around the country, innovative community colleges are playing a larger role in helping low-skilled adults gain the valuable skills and credentials that are the gateway to family-supporting careers. Breaking Through looks at whether--and how--these institutions can significantly improve the odds that low-income, lowskilled adults earn the college-level occupational and technical credentials that remain elusive for many Americans. The report is based on a literature review, site visits to innovative colleges and programs, interviews with practitioners and researchers, special sessions at national conferences, and a convening of practitioners who discussed their programs and reviewed preliminary research findings. The emphasis of the research was the institution, looking at what colleges can do and how well they can do it. Nevertheless, state policies can play an important role in enhancing or stifling the development and implementation of strategies for helping low-skilled adults advance toward postsecondary credentials and family-supporting careers. The findings of this report can inform state officials and policymakers as they seek to encourage promising strategies, remove obstacles to those strategies, and strengthen the connections between promising state policies and community college practice.