Landscape Scan on the Role of Intermediaries in Rural Communities
Exploration
Education First |$150,000|12/2021 - 7/2022
This grant supports Education First in completing a landscape scan to identify intermediaries positioned to serve learners from low-income backgrounds across geographies, with a special focus on identifying providers in rural communities.
Defining What It Means to Be a Rural-Serving Postsecondary Institution
Validation
Appalachian State University|$428,000|12/2020 - 6/2022
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.
Exploring Pathways to Sustainable Digital Employment in Rural Communities
Exploration
Center on Rural Innovation Inc|$403,100|12/2020 - 4/2022
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.
Exploring the Role of Micro-credentials in Rural Postsecondary Education and Workforce Training Programs
Exploration
Digital Promise Global|$249,200|12/2020 - 3/2022
This grant supports Digital Promise Global in conducting a landscape scan of micro-credential use in rural postsecondary education and workforce training programs. The scan will aim to determine whether and to what extent micro-credentials are being used as a tool for economic recovery in rural postsecondary settings to support credential attainment and workforce entry for rural learners from low-income backgrounds, especially learners of color.
College and Student Success in Rural Communities
Validation
University of Wisconsin-Madison|$191,765|6/2020 - 12/2021
This grant supports the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Student Success Through Applied Research Lab in completing an analysis of demographic shifts in rural communities and college enrollment trends in rural places facing the greatest demographic shifts. This research will uncover new insights into rural college opportunity and access and will help education leaders and other stakeholders identify practical ways colleges can successfully navigate and respond to these increasing demographic challenges.
Rural Perspective and Opinions on Work, Education and Place
Validation
Education Commission of the States|$371,875|9/2020 - 9/2021
This grant supports Education Commission of the States in better understanding rural residents’ perceptions of the value of education, barriers to entry or completion, connections to work and general satisfaction with prior education and training experiences, leveraging insights for state policy audiences.
Developing a National Rural Postsecondary Research Agenda
Validation
Sova Solutions|$120,000|11/2020 - 8/2021
This grant supports Sova Solutions in facilitating the creation of a Rural Research Working Group to develop a national rural postsecondary education research agenda. The agenda will outline the key research questions for the field.
Rural Community College COVID Response and Guided Pathways Planning Grant
Exploration
National Center for Inquiry and Improvement |$432,500|9/2020 - 8/2021
This grant supports the National Center for Inquiry and Improvement in creating a Rural Community College Leader Learning Community to help leaders address the effects of COVID-19. This project will generate a set of "What Comes Next" briefs highlighting how rural institutions can overcome challenges and remain student-centered in the aftermath of COVID-19, and set the foundation for a subsequent creation of a guided pathways cohort model for rural institutions.
Supporting Rural Island-Based Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Students
Exploration
APIA Scholars|$144,400|5/2020 - 12/2020
This grant supports Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund in preparing for a comprehensive mixed-method study focused on rural Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students and the rural institutions serving them.
Improving Workforce Outcomes for Community College Students
Exploration
Social Finance|$180,000|2/2020 - 7/2020
This grant supports Social Finance in assessing strategies and approaches that workforce entities (including employers and workforce training providers) have used to establish successful partnerships with community colleges. The goals of this project are to identify effective strategies for developing employer partnerships that lead to long-term success for community college students, explore opportunities for sustainable and performance-based funding models for these partnerships and to highlight best practices and lessons for rural communities.
