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.
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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.
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2019 was not only our first full year under the Ascendium name, we literally sharpened our focus to four areas: removing structural barriers, postsecondary education in prison, rural education and workforce training, and streamlining transitions.
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A practical guide to setting a vision and key practices for talent development and economic mobility, balancing the needs of students and employers to advance the overall prosperity of their regions, from the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.
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Our 2018 report, Clearing the Path, highlights our belief in catalyzing lasting change that reduces barriers that arise throughout a student’s progression from enrollment through program completion to gainful employment.
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We’ve found that one of the best ways to identify areas for improvement is to ask those who know us best—namely, the grant partners we invest in.
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We believe in leveraging existing knowledge to evaluate and support strategies that are most likely to have an impact. By building on what works, we can help more students complete their credential.
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Studies show that well-timed outreach to prospective college freshmen the summer after high school can help support their entrance into college. This report asks the question: What does it take to set up and run a successful summer texting program?
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We believe that improving completion rates requires focus on both students and institutions—with success being their shared goal.
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Ascendium funded $2.1 million in Career Ready Internship grants to 16 Midwest community colleges to establish and administer paid internship programs to give low-income students real-world experience in their area of study.
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Our 2015 Philanthropy Report highlights the three distinct and purposeful funding approaches we use, and details several grants we made over the past year.
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This report summarizes surveys of both grant applicant and grantee opinions of Great Lakes (now Ascendium Education Group), benchmarking the organization’s performance against a database of responses from more than 40,000 grantees of nearly 300. Compiled by the nonprofit Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP).
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