All Grants

This grant supports the Institute for Educational Leadership in exploring the implementation of a framework for career partnerships with a cohort of community colleges across the Appalachia region. They plan to leverage their robust Appalachian Workforce Network and use this convening to build buy-in and solidify goals for future work across the region.

This grant supports Michael Levin-Epstein in producing an eight-part podcast series focused on postsecondary education and workforce training in rural communities on the Rural Matters podcast.

This grant supports Appalachian State University and researchers from the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges in utilizing and analyzing various data sources to develop a formal definition of operating as a “rural serving postsecondary institution.” The team will create a series of interactive data tools, corresponding documentation and a list of institutions that meet this definition.

This grant supports the Iowa Department of Education in implementing a set of systemic guided pathways reforms that will improve student outcomes and reduce equity gaps.

This grant supports Reentry Campus Program in refining their program delivery model to increase the meaningful use of prior learning assessments and wraparound services for incarcerated students in Rhode Island. Setting the stage for broad dissemination, the organization will work to codify the program design, cost structure and associated student outcomes.

This grant supports Merit America in testing service delivery models for learners engaged in place-based programs and those engaged in geographic-agnostic programs to compare learner completion and job placement outcomes and inform plans for scale.

This grant supports the Center on Rural Innovation in researching foundational questions related to building an inclusive tech workforce in rural America. Research will be synthesized into a public-facing report that will drive real impact on creating skilling pipelines, localizing outsourced tech jobs and leveraging the power of remote work in rural areas—ultimately setting the stage for low-income rural learners to achieve their academic and career goals in the fast-growing, high-paying fields of the digital economy.

This grant supports the Institute for Higher Education Policy in conducting the impact research component of the Degrees When Due initiative, a national effort to advance degree reclamation for the “some-college, no-degree” population. This research includes an examination of current degree reclamation strategies and student-level postsecondary and employment outcome data.

This grant supports The Aspen Institute in operationalizing the Ascendium-funded Workforce Playbook by engaging community college leaders in a variety of contexts through additional curricular materials and embedding the Workforce Playbook into the existing guided pathways framework.

This grant supports the Coleridge Initiative in developing and delivering training classes for two states to build capacity for state education and workforce agencies in the use of data to improve education and workforce transitions. The Coleridge Initiative will partner with state-based public policy staff and college-based data science programs within each state to develop curricula, deliver ongoing applied data training to state agency staff and build new analytical products to inform the design and development of effective education and training policy and practice.