Learning Partner for Future Sectoral Training Evidence-Building Initiative
Validation
MDRC|$334,500|2/2024 - 6/2024
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.
Actualizing Community Vibrancy Metrics
Exploration
Achieving the Dream Inc|$1,244,600|12/2022 - 5/2024
This grant supports Achieving the Dream (ATD) in helping its member colleges collect and use learner- and community-level data to drive college-wide reform. ATD will pilot the use of its new Community Vibrancy metrics framework with 15 colleges, learning how the metrics can be applied to drive change and produce tools and a training curriculum to support broader adoption across ATD’s 300+ member institutions.
Community College Growth Engine Fund Expansion
Exploration
Education Design Lab|$995,900|10/2021 - 3/2024
This grant supports Education Design Lab (The Lab) in deploying the Community College Growth Engine Fund with two community college systems. The Lab will support the design and pilot of employer-validated micro-pathways to connect low-income learners to economic mobility.
Expansion of the Good Jobs Project
Validation
Georgetown University|$450,000|11/2021 - 1/2024
This grant supports the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce in mapping economic opportunity by identifying where good jobs exist in urban and rural regions and establishing the most reliable educational and training pathways to those jobs. This analysis will expand on existing research by contextualizing opportunities to locale and enabling education and workforce providers to align programs with existing and projected labor demand.
Community Colleges as Apprenticeship Intermediaries: Learning What Works
Exploration
New America Foundation|$430,000|12/2021 - 1/2024
This grant supports New America Foundation in exploring the role of apprenticeship intermediaries. New America will conduct research to identify effective community college apprenticeship intermediaries and offer policy and practice recommendations for community colleges to scale this strategy.
Building Stackable Credential Pipelines that Support Equity and Provide Pathways
Validation
The RAND Corporation|$483,900|10/2021 - 12/2023
This grant supports The RAND Corporation in examining stackable credential pipelines in two states to determine whether learners from low-income backgrounds benefit from stackable credentials, whether they face barriers in accessing these pathways and which institutional and system level policies and programs strengthen equity. The goal is to inform efforts within the two states and nationally to build effective and equitable stackable credential pipelines for learners from low-income backgrounds.
Michigan Community College Workforce and Transfer Alignment
Scaling
Michigan Community College Association Foundation|$800,000|12/2020 - 12/2023
This grant supports the Michigan Community College Association in improving equitable access to and through community college workforce programs for low-income learners statewide by improving program alignment with industry certifications, building new baccalaureate transfer pathways with universities and strengthening advising practices related to both transfer and career outcomes.
Hana Career Pathways in Healthcare
Exploration
University of Hawaii Foundation|$500,000|12/2020 - 12/2023
This grant supports the University of Hawaii System (UH) in developing articulated career pathways that lead from high-demand, entry-level healthcare occupations to advancement in skills, education, career and earnings. UH will develop clear career pathways and institutionalize the necessary policies and data infrastructure that provide opportunities for learners to transition from non-credit job training to credit-based degrees by leveraging apprenticeships and stackable industry-valued credentials.
Accelerating Transfer Reform
Scaling
The Aspen Institute Inc|$1,518,000|7/2021 - 10/2023
This grant supports The Aspen Institute in accelerating transfer reform nationally by activating two- and four-year college leaders and leveraging networks to implement lasting institutional change. This project will scale the adoption of effective practices aimed at improving transfer success for learners from low-income backgrounds.
Advancing Outcomes Research on Postsecondary Competency-Based Education Pathways
Exploration
American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences|$237,200|6/2022 - 10/2023
This grant supports American Institutes for Research in developing a typology of competency-based education program design features. They will also develop an evaluation plan using the typology to research the impact of key design features and outcomes for learners from low-income backgrounds.
