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Ascendium Education Philanthropy is a division of Ascendium Education Group.

Media Partnerships

Our philanthropy amplifies important information across the nation, helping good ideas become systemic change for learners from low-income backgrounds.

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WHY MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS?

High-quality reporting and storytelling are vital for investigating, proposing, and disseminating systemic solutions to challenges faced by learners from low-income backgrounds. When media highlight problems alongside evidence-based solutions, successful practices have the potential to scale up. Media amplification can also encourage individual policymakers, communities, and government agencies to address critical issues in improving postsecondary education and workforce training outcomes. By framing and amplifying the issues critical to improving postsecondary education and workforce training outcomes, media partners get important information in front of those who can advocate for and make real, systemic change.

Learn more about how our media partnerships support learners from low-income backgrounds.

Documenting Opportunities for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Learners

Field Development
Strada Collaborative LLC|$700,000|2/2024 - 4/2026
This grant supports Roadtrip Nation in producing a documentary film and additional video assets that showcase the voices and experiences of justice-impacted individuals who participated in postsecondary education opportunities while incarcerated. The documentary aims to build awareness about the positive impact of access to postsecondary education in prison and help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners see the relevance of postsecondary education to their life and career goals.

Prevalence of Lived Experience in Leadership Positions

Field Development
The Urban Institute |$100,000|9/2024 - 3/2026
This grant supports Urban Institute in understanding the prevalence of lived experiences in or adjacent to the criminal justice system, including personal history of incarceration, among nonprofit organizational leaders. The project will identify best practices and develop data collection tools funders can use to understand the extent to which their grantees are led by individuals with relevant lived experience.

Supporting High Quality Journalism on Postsecondary Education Solutions

Field Development
Education Writers Association|$350,000|2/2025 - 1/2026
This grant supports Education Writers Association in enhancing small independent outlets’ capacity to report on postsecondary issues while providing training and opportunities for journalists across the country to cover local, rural, and national stories related to postsecondary education and workforce training.

Highlighting Lessons Learned from the Developmental Education Reform Movement

Field Development
Georgetown University|$223,740|6/2024 - 12/2025
This grant supports FutureEd in producing a comprehensive review of learning from more than a decade of national developmental education reform efforts, highlighting promising strategies and issuing a renewed call for action.

Expanding and Sharing the Evidence Base of Key Student Success Reforms

Field Development
Teachers College, Columbia University|$7,000,000|12/2022 - 12/2025
This grant supports the Community College Research Center in deepening the evidence base across a range of student success reform areas and conducting syntheses of current research in practitioner-oriented briefs and through an update to the pivotal book, “Redesigning America’s Community Colleges,” which launched the national guided pathways movement.

Reporting on the Future of Work, Postsecondary Education and the Skills Gap

Field Development
American Public Media|$148,028|6/2024 - 12/2025
This grant supports American Public Media’s Marketplace program in producing content about the changing postsecondary education and workforce landscape and the impacts of those changes on learners and U.S. global competitiveness. Marketplace reporting will explore ways to align skills-development opportunities with employer needs.
View All Ascendium Grants