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Ascendium Education Philanthropy is a division of Ascendium Education Group.

Awarded Grants

The grants we award advance our core strategies to Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, and Connect and Align Systems. They also promote field support and development efforts across strategies.

Strategies

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Growing the Community of Formerly-Incarcerated Leaders in HEP

Field Development
Rockwood Leadership Institute|$3,891,000|8/2025 - 12/2028
This grant supports Rockwood Leadership Institute in implementing the Fellowship for Formerly Incarcerated Leaders in Higher Education in Prison program for three additional cohorts.

Developing Pre-entry Resources

Support
Our Community Ltd|$57,500|7/2025 - 6/2026
This grant supports Our Community Ltd in developing and disseminating career exploration resources to help incarcerated individuals make informed decisions about postsecondary education and workforce training that can provide opportunity for employment and upward mobility after release.

Seeding the Rise Up Summit

Field Development
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison Inc|$150,000|7/2025 - 6/2026
This grant supports Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison in conducting a comprehensive convening and planning process to solidify the programmatic and logistical strategy for the annual virtual Rise Up Conference, now in its fifth year. Hudson Link is exploring the need and feasibility to transition Rise Up to a permanent, in-person annual event.

Measuring Rural College Student Access and Success

Field Development
University of Wisconsin-Madison|$681,000|6/2025 - 5/2029
This grant supports the Student Success Through Applied Research Lab at the University of Wisconsin—Madison in generating new insights, with novel data sources, into where rural students attend college, which colleges serve them well, and whether they return home after college.

Supporting the Massachusetts Prison Education Consortium

Connect
Massachusetts Institute of Technology|$749,000|6/2025 - 5/2028
This grant supports The Educational Justice Institute in coordinating the Massachusetts Prison Education Consortium to convene providers, collect and analyze academic and corrections data, and develop a strategic plan for the expansion of postsecondary education programs in prisons across the state.

Beyond the College Walls: Principles and Partnerships for the Next Community College Decade

Field Development
Achieving the Dream Inc|$50,000|6/2025 - 5/2026
This grant supports Achieving the Dream in sponsoring the publication of a new edited collection from Harvard Education Press that outlines key elements of community college reform required for those institutions to meet the needs of today’s and future learners.

Supporting the Reimagine Rural Podcast

Field Development
The Brookings Institution|$250,000|6/2025 - 5/2026
This grant supports the Reimagining Rural Policy initiative at the Brookings Institution in producing its third season of the Reiminagining Rural podcast. The podcast explores how strategic public investment in rural communities can spur innovation and development, including the ways in which postsecondary education and workforce training are core to opportunity for rural learners.

Synthesis of Evidence Across Three States on Shortened Academic Terms

Support
The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Davis campus|$49,900|6/2025 - 5/2026
This grant supports Wheelhouse Center for Community College Leadership and Research in synthesizing evidence from three states about the impacts of shortened academic courses on student outcomes.

Dual Enrollment Benchmarking Planning

Connect
Education Strategy Group|$50,000|6/2025 - 1/2026
This Seeding Innovation grant supports Education Strategy Group in exploring the potential to build a national benchmarking data study for dual credit programs. This grant will support foundational landscape analysis, partnership development, and a feasibility study to determine if and how a large-scale national study and associated data set could be created to aid in states' strategic implementation of dual credit policies and programs.

Evaluation of Scaling Shortened Academic Terms Initiative

Support
Teachers College, Columbia University|$1,500,000|5/2025 - 8/2029
This grants supports Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University in evaluating an initiative to scale shortened courses at up to 16 community colleges across four states. CCRC will implement a multi-component evaluation to monitor initiative progress, assess students’ learning outcomes, and identify the conditions that support scale of shortened academic terms.