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This work in progress (WIP) paper shares experiences and lessons learned from the first three years in the development and implementation of a model to improve the preparation and transition of Hispanic STEM doctoral students into community college (CC) faculty positions by the Hispanic Alliance for the Graduate Education and the Professoriate (H-AGEP). This is a collaborative effort between the City College of New York (CCNY) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in partnership with El Paso CC (EPCC), LaGuardia CC (LaCC), and Queensborough CC (QCC). The proposed model addresses the important need of recruiting more Hispanic faculty at CC who can serve as outstanding teachers, mentors and role models to students at CC. Over 50% of Hispanics start their college journey at a community college while less than 5% of faculty in higher education is from Hispanic backgrounds. Increasing the can increase the number of Hispanic who receive degrees from community college and who transfer to 4 year institutions to obtain degrees in STEM. Higher representation of faculty from Hispanic and other racial/ethnic groups on campus have a positive impact on underrepresented minority student’s success when measured in grades and course completions as well as retention and degree completion. The lessons learned came from a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis performed as part of a self-study conducted in December 2020. The study included H-AGEP fellows, CCNY and UTEP participant faculty, dissertation advisors, and CC faculty mentors. The lessons learned provide important feedback for program improvement as well as information to teams who may be interested in developing alliances and collaborations with similar goals. A key result of the assessment is the value that CC partners bring in supporting teaching training and in providing a positive perspective on careers at community college to the participating doctoral students. The paper presents a brief summary of the H-AGEP model. Then it summarizes the findings from the self-study and concludes with the lessons learned from the process.