Awarded Grants | Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy - Grants Page 9 Skip to main content

Ascendium Education Philanthropy is a division of Ascendium Education Group.

Awarded Grants

The grants we award advance our core strategies to Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, and Connect and Align Systems. They also promote field support and development efforts across strategies.

Project Success Formative and Summative Assessment

Achieving the Dream Inc|$400,000|7/2023 - 6/2026
This grant supports Achieving the Dream in evaluating Project Success at its partner Tribal Colleges and Universities. The two-part assessment will provide critical lessons for Achieving the Dream, the participating institutions and the broader field on implementing student-facing practices.

Creating Enabling Conditions for Adult Reskilling in Rural America through Narrative

New York University|$277,100|7/2024 - 6/2026
This grant supports New York University’s Marron Institute in producing national reporting, communications, and a multimedia web project to raise the profile of rural workers and educational pathways in Appalachia. The project will highlight strategies to help more rural low-income workers in the region, and in other rural regions, to complete postsecondary education and workforce training programs aligned to local economies.

Employability Skills for HEP Curriculum

The QA Commons Inc|$227,900|8/2023 - 6/2026
This grant supports the QA Commons in integrating employability skills and college transitions supports into the Missouri Department of Corrections' Career and Technical Education programs for incarcerated learners.

Pathways to Success for Adults with Some College but No Degree

Tennessee Board of Regents-The College System of Tennessee |$2,124,700|6/2022 - 5/2026
This grant supports the Tennessee Board of Regents in using insights from prior Ascendium-funded research to redesign the experience of adults with some college but no degree who reconnect with college. Designed as a randomized control trial, the project will evaluate how the redesign of the reconnecting semester for adults returning to community college impacts persistence, completion and time to degree.

Addressing Inequity in College Retention of Low-Income Students: Collaboratively Creating Pathways to Careers in Four-Year Degree Programs

Yes We Must Coalition|$2,500,000|6/2023 - 5/2026
This grant supports the Yes We Must Coalition in helping 10 member institutions adopt reforms to strengthen career advising and outcomes for learners. Participating institutions will redesign one to two bachelor's degree pathways to better connect learning with career opportunities in those fields of study.

THEI Technical Assistance

Tennessee Higher Education Initiative Inc|$1,105,000|11/2023 - 5/2026
This grant supports the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative in developing student facing resources, providing technical assistance to the Tennessee Department of Correction, and providing training and support to other prison education programs nationally.

Expanding Business Education and Employment Opportunity in Postsecondary Education in Prison Programs

Resilience Education|$2,500,000|5/2023 - 5/2026
This grant supports Resilience Education in expanding a consortium of leading business and law schools delivering credit-bearing business and financial skills courses in prisons. Resilience will develop new curriculum, build partnerships with additional professional schools and corrections facilities and create new employer partnerships to increase the number of learners gaining professional skills and finding employment after release.

Serving Rural America though Land-Grant Colleges & Universities: Unlocking the Workforce Development Potential of Extension Services

National Center for Higher Education Management Systems|$1,139,700|11/2023 - 4/2026
This grant supports the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems in strengthening the capacity of Land Grant University Cooperative Extension offices to advance postsecondary access and success for learners in rural communities.

The Transfer Intensive 2.0

The Aspen Institute Inc|$2,600,000|11/2023 - 4/2026
This grant supports the Aspen Institute in expanding the Transfer Intensive, which provides structured support to two- and four-year institutions that are partnering to ensure students can more easily transfer between their institutions without loss of credit. The expansion will include two new cohorts of participating colleges and enable tracking of student outcomes at institutions that participated in prior cohorts.

Sustaining and Scaling Equitable Educational Practices

Tennessee Board of Regents-The College System of Tennessee |$1,456,400|5/2023 - 4/2026
This grant supports the Tennessee Board of Regents, the governing body for the College System of Tennessee, in scaling high impact practices and applying learning mindset research to create more supportive classrooms throughout the system.