Equity Action Intensive
Exploration
This grant supports the National Association of System Heads in partnering with four to six state postsecondary systems to develop robust plans for improving equity in postsecondary outcomes for learners of color and learners from low-income backgrounds. Selected systems will conduct self-assessments, set concrete equity goals, receive expert technical assistance and initiate reforms.
Learning Partner for Future Sectoral Training Evidence-Building Initiative
Validation
This grant supports MDRC in partnering with Ascendium to design a grantmaking initiative that will build next-generation evidence on sectoral training programs. The initiative will identify the conditions and mechanisms needed to deliver and scale effective programs.
Optimizing Delivery Systems for Higher Education in Prison
Exploration
This grant supports the Iowa Department of Education, in partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections, Iowa Central Community College, Des Moines Area Community College and the University of Iowa, in expanding postsecondary education options across Iowa that are workforce-relevant and support varied academic and career pathways.
Designing a Postsecondary Education in Prison RFP Initiative
Exploration
This grant supports American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences in researching and designing an initiative focused on supporting experienced postsecondary education in prison programs in sharing their knowledge and resources with other programs to accelerate their meeting new federal regulations for receiving Pell Grants.
Exploring Geographic Isolation as a Barrier to Equitable Transfer Outcomes
Exploration
This grant supports the RP Group in assessing the role of proximity to four-year institutions in the transfer outcomes of low-income and Latinx students in California in order to identify ways to strengthen transfer policy and practice, particularly in states with large rural areas not well served by broad access four-year institutions.
Optimizing Delivery Systems for Higher Education in Prison Evaluation
Validation
This grant supports the Second Chance Educational Alliance in evaluating the initiative and synthesizing lessons learned across participating sites.
Organizational Capacity Building Project
Exploration
This grant supports the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network in building the executive, organizational and strategic capacity needed to excel as an impactful network of leaders who completed college during incarceration.
Assessing Quality and Equitable Access and Outcomes of Distance Postsecondary Courses for the Incarcerated
Validation
This grant supports the American Institutes for Research in conducting a study to identify and examine high quality and equitable distance education practices among a select group of postsecondary education in prison providers offering courses that lead to a credential or degree. By producing evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of different distance education options, this study hopes to determine a connection between characteristics of program quality and student success outcomes.
Training Low-Income Workers for Remote Opportunities
Exploration
This grant supports The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges in building and implementing a state-wide training program designed to prepare rural Maine residents for success in remote working roles. Over three years, the program will train 700+ learners and establish the Maine Advisory Council on Remote Working.
Massachusetts Prison Education Consortium Expansion
Scaling
This grant supports The Educational Justice Institute at MIT in designing a scalable, sustainable and replicable model of postsecondary education delivery throughout the Massachusetts prison system. This model will unite the disparate courses offered throughout the correctional system into a coordinated network of transferable credits, guide students through facility transfers and create comprehensive programs leading to credentials.
