Barack Obama has culled together several of his previously announced policy proposals and begun pitching them as a broad plan that he believes would strengthen the nation’s community colleges and encourage more high-school graduates to attend them.

Many of the ideas, which he touted yesterday as his agenda for community colleges, were also included in his previously announced plan to help working families.

The community-college agenda includes Mr. Obama’s proposal to create a tax credit of up to $4,000 per year for college tuition and fees. The credit would be refundable, meaning that people whose income is so low that they do not owe taxes would still be able to benefit.

Mr. Obama, a Democrat and senator from Illinois, said yesterday that providing the $4,000 benefit would mean that attending a community college would become “completely free” for most Americans.

He also reiterated his plan to create a community-college partnership program through which he would provide federal grants to help two-year institutions better analyze the jobs skills that are most needed in their communities and put in place programs that cater to emerging industries’ needs. It would also reward institutions that increase the number of their students who transfer to four-year colleges.

“An ever-expanding American dream: this is the legacy — and the promise — of the community-college system in America,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s a system based on the principle that we all have a stake in one another’s success. Because when we invest in one another’s dreams our communities benefit, our states benefit, and ultimately our entire nation is lifted up.”