Resource Library

The profile of many rural communities across the U.S. is not that dissimilar from those in Puerto Rico. Understanding the context of Puerto Rican institutions to enroll, retain and graduate their Latino students can inform efforts to better serve this student population on the island, as well as on the U.S. mainland. This report, produced by Excelencia in Education with support from Ascendium, provides an overview of the educational environment in Puerto Rico and is part one of a two-part series exploring institutional resilience and transformation in Puerto Rico.

Our 2020 report, Empowering Possibilities, tells the story of our philanthropy during an unprecedented time and the tremendous efforts of our grant partners who were able to advance their work despite numerous challenges.

These reports by MDRC are a special supplement to a series of four Rural Matters podcasts which were funded by Ascendium. Offered in these reports are ideas and recommendations for education professionals and policymakers to boost success for postsecondary education and workforce training in rural areas, along with links to listen to the original podcasts.

This Ascendium funded report lays out findings and insights gleaned from focus groups of students who live in and/or attend college in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. The information sheds light on how these rural institutions, students and communities have fared – both prior to the global pandemic and now.

A College Lifeline, supported with funding from Ascendium, looks at the ways higher ed is serving rural and incarcerated students along with the unique benefits and challenges both educators and students face.

Rural college leaders are responding to demographic declines in innovative ways, including aligning more closely with regional workforce needs, creating satellite locations and using technology to close distance gaps. (Report produced by The Chronicle of Higher Education and sponsored by Ascendium)

This four-part podcast series from Rural Matters, sponsored by Ascendium, features leaders in the rural postsecondary education space discussing challenges and opportunities in rural higher education and workforce training.

This Social Finance report, supported by funding from Ascendium, is intended to serve as a “how-to guide” for rural community college leaders in building or refining workforce partnerships. For workforce program directors, the checklists in the Getting Started and Rural Considerations sections are designed to be printed and used as a work plan. For presidents and provosts, the executive summary and stories of peer institutions serve as examples for transformation.

This overview of one of Ascendium’s funding focus area explores Ascendium’s investment priorities for expanding networks and sharing data around postsecondary education and workforce needs in rural areas, and the desired outcomes of that support.

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.

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.

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.