Skip to main content

EDUCATION PHILANTHROPY DIVISION OF ASCENDIUM EDUCATION GROUP

Streamline Key Learner Transitions

Our philanthropy supports institutions and systems to facilitate seamless transitions between educational and career opportunities after high school.

See Grants in This Focus Area
FocusArea StreamlineTransitions Header

How We See the Problem

Leveraging workforce training systems, transferring between postsecondary providers and entering or re-entering the workforce are pivotal moments in a learner’s career or academic journey. Institutions and systems can implement policies and practices that inadvertently make these transitions difficult. For example, when curricula don’t align, or information systems are incapable of sharing data effectively, students risk losing credits, momentum and money. The jump from postsecondary education into the workforce also presents challenges, especially when institutions offer programming that does not align with the skills employers need.

Ascendium’s Approach

We support diverse pathways to technical education and workforce training, efforts that ease returning to and transferring between postsecondary institutions and initiatives that smooth transitions between postsecondary education and the workforce. 

Streamline Key Transitions v3

Outcomes we seek

The outcomes we seek measure progress across areas that include: providing learners with the information they need to understand the education landscape and take advantage of career pathways; increasing numbers of learners with some college but no degree efficiently completing a degree or high-quality credential; and fostering collaborative efforts around data coordination between postsecondary and workforce systems with learners’ needs and goals in mind.

How we work

We fund initiatives that develop multiple pathways into training and certificates; promote collaboration between education, non-degree credential partners and workforce systems; align transfers between institutions at system, state, and regional levels; and ultimately work to ensure that learners are well-prepared to enter and advance in the workforce.

Grants to Streamline Key Learner Transitions

To learn about our approach to grantmaking (Exploration, Validation, Scaling), visit our How We Fund page.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling
St. Francis School District|$38,020|9/2018 - 12/2020
This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling
School District of South Milwaukee|$38,025|9/2018 - 12/2020
This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling
Adams-Friendship Area School District|$38,020|9/2018 - 12/2020
This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting-NCAN memberships for Wisconsin school districts

Scaling
National College Attainment Network|$19,653|9/2018 - 12/2020
This grant supports National College Access Network membership fees for the 13 school districts participating in the Text Steps project.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting-Signal Vine, Inc. fees for Wisconsin school districts

Scaling
Signal Vine, Inc.|$46,920|8/2018 - 9/2020
This grant supports licensing and setup fees for the Signal Vine texting platform for the 13 school districts participating in the Text Steps project.

FAFSA Completion Challenge

Scaling
National College Attainment Network|$1,000,000|4/2018 - 8/2020
This grant supports the National College Access Network in helping 30 large cities with lower-than-average FAFSA completion rates implement plans to increase communitywide rates.

Scaling Education to Employment Solutions

Exploration
America Achieves Inc|$150,000|4/2020 - 7/2020
This grant supports America Achieves in developing actionable recommendations for how philanthropy and the public sector can work together to scale high potential postsecondary education to employment initiatives.

Creating Postsecondary Pathways for Thread Students

Exploration
Thread Inc|$277,000|7/2019 - 6/2020
This grants supports Thread in an effort to conduct a planning initiative to audit, strengthen, and codify their relationship-driven approach to supporting underserved young adults in five core postsecondary pathways: two-year degree completion, four-year degree completion, entrepreneurship, trade school/apprenticeships and straight-to-workforce.

Ascendium-Sponsored Convening Fund

Exploration
Yes We Must Coalition|$95,000|1/2019 - 6/2020
This grant supports the Yes We Must Coalition in hosting a two-day convening in 2019 focused on employer engagement and building professional readiness into the student experience at their member institutions.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling
Ben Castleman|$7,875|5/2018 - 5/2020
This grant supports Ben Castleman in providing consulting to the 13 Wisconsin public school districts participating in the Text Steps summer melt project.
View All Ascendium Grants

Latest News

May 28, 2020

Ascendium Education Group Announces New Philanthropy Website, Investment Priorities

The new website points partners to critical information on how Ascendium is working to change postsecondary and workforce training systems so that learners from low-income backgrounds can achieve upward socioeconomic mobility.

Read More
April 30, 2020

Emergency Grant Guidance

  • Emergency Aid Grants? We Have Guidance to Share
  • Essential Service: Tools of the Trade
  • New Resource: Trends & Challenges in Financial Aid Awards
Read More
View All News for this Focus Area

Resources

Streamline Key Learner Transitions

This overview of one of Ascendium’s funding focus area explores Ascendium’s investment priorities for streamlining diverse pathways into and through postsecondary education and learner transitions into the workforce, and the desired outcomes of that support.

View the PDF

About Ascendium Education Philanthropy

This overview of Ascendium's education philanthropy details our strategic approach to philanthropy: how, where and what we fund, our four focus areas and our belief in the power of education for upward social mobility.

View the PDF
View All Resources for this Focus Area

Carolynn
Lee

Program Officer,
Streamline Key Learner Transitions

Maryann
Rainey

Program Officer,
Streamline Key Learner Transitions

Subscribe and Stay Connected

Get Ascendium news right to your inbox, from grant announcements and project spotlights to where you can find our program staff in the field.

Newsletter Sign Up