How are community colleges bringing research opportunities to students and how can we build and strengthen pathways between community colleges and other institutions? First, Dr. Laurie McConnico shares her experiences building a culture of undergraduate research at Cuesta College (a community college). In her presentation, she describes the preliminary work required to establish undergraduate research across campus and disciplines, implementation of programs, and barriers to success. Next, Dr. William LaCourse examines what is needed to build a strong and sustainable collaboration between community colleges and university partners to enhance STEM student success. Additionally, he will share challenges, lessons learned, and successes of such collaborations from an organizational perspective and from the perspective of the faculty and administrators at the institutions.