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EDUCATION PHILANTHROPY DIVISION OF ASCENDIUM EDUCATION GROUP

Support Rural Postsecondary Education and Workforce Training

Our philanthropy elevates rural postsecondary education and workforce training, long absent from education reform efforts.

Learners from rural community training together.

How We See the Problem

Disparities in postsecondary success between rural students and their urban and suburban peers exist at every point in the pipeline, from enrollment to completion. These disparities contribute to a shortage of skilled, qualified workers, which affects the economic health of both families and entire communities.

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A Guide for Research on Rural Postsecondary Education

One of our investment priorities is to support research to better understand rural learners and postsecondary providers. As part of our work in this area, we partnered with Sova to convene a diverse group of researchers and organizations to develop a national rural postsecondary research agenda. This research agenda lays the groundwork for applied research collaborations that will generate knowledge to help practitioners and policymakers remove systemic barriers faced by rural learners, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.

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Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success

Ascendium is committed to advancing evidence-based research that supports equitable improvements in postsecondary education and workforce outcomes for rural learners. Through this grant opportunity, we will invest in research that generates actionable knowledge, yields evidence-based insights and supports practitioners and policymakers in scaling effective approaches to removing systemic barriers uniquely faced by rural learners.

Our Three Investment Priorities

Grants to Support Rural Postsecondary Education and Workforce Training

Changing Systems to Support Partnerships Between Rural Community Colleges and Industry Stakeholders

Exploration
National Skills Coalition|$600,000|12/2022 - 11/2024
This grant supports the National Skills Coalition in helping states implement policy and systems changes to create and/or strengthen partnerships between rural-based community colleges and industry. This effort will document how existing partnerships have impacted the postsecondary and workforce success of rural learners and provide targeted technical assistance and coaching to state agencies and workforce coalitions.

NCII Impact Fund - Rural Guided Pathways

Scaling
New Venture Fund|$3,637,450|10/2021 - 9/2024
This grant supports the NCII Impact Fund, a project of the New Venture Fund, in developing and delivering a regionalized approach to guided pathways focused on rural institutions. This three year support model would be a first-of-its-kind approach to guided pathways implementation that includes community colleges, as well as workforce, employer, K12 and university partners as core members of the implementation team.

Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success

Validation
Digital Promise Global|$277,500|3/2023 - 8/2024
This grant supports Digital Promise Global in exploring the impact of a state‐funded training and wage‐based incentive program (Child Care WAGE$ Tennessee) designed to create living‐wage career paths for early childhood educators in rural communities.

Training Low-Income Workers for Remote Opportunities

Exploration
The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges|$535,000|7/2021 - 6/2024
This grant supports The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges in building and implementing a state-wide training program designed to prepare rural Maine residents for success in remote working roles. Over three years, the program will train 700+ learners and establish the Maine Advisory Council on Remote Working.

AA-to-BA Transfer Apprenticeship Pathway for Rural Talent

Exploration
Reach Institute for School Leadership|$600,000|11/2022 - 5/2024
This grant supports Reach University in building career pathways between rural community colleges and school districts in four states, providing rural learners from low-income backgrounds with job-embedded training that leads to a bachelor’s degree and employment in high-quality, high-demand jobs in the education sector.

Evaluating the HBCU Adult Learner Initiative

Validation
UNCF|$74,000|12/2021 - 12/2023
This grant supports UNCF in evaluating the Adult Learner Initiative, an initiative designed to help five Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North Carolina identify and eliminate barriers that prevent Black rural adult learners from low-income backgrounds from earning a degree or credential.

Evaluating Digital Pathways Transformation Cohort of Rural Community Colleges

Validation
Achieving the Dream Inc|$240,000|12/2020 - 12/2023
This grant supports Achieving the Dream in building a cohort of six rural community colleges going through large-scale institutional change to prepare and increase the number of low-income learners that graduate and enter the digital economy. This grant will support the evaluation of this cohort and will build a body of evidence outlining key success factors for supporting rural community colleges and learners.

Launching West Virginia Climbs

Exploration
Philanthropy West Virginia|$750,000|6/2020 - 11/2023
This grant supports Philanthropy West Virginia’s efforts in building the infrastructure of West Virginia Climbs, a new public awareness and programming campaign aimed at increasing the state’s postsecondary educational attainment rate to at least 60 percent by 2030. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and other partners will support the implementation activities needed to complete five activities targeted at supporting learners from low-income backgrounds.

Building Rural Community Learning Systems

Scaling
Columbus Learning Center Management Corporation|$750,000|9/2021 - 8/2023
This grant supports CivicLab, a project of Columbus Learning Center Management Corporation, in launching a cohort of six to eight rural community partnerships, building the capacity of rural community learning systems to improve learner-level outcomes along a talent development pathway.

Leveraging Arkansas Community Colleges to Support Economic Development

Exploration
Local Initiatives Support Corporation|$240,000|12/2021 - 7/2023
This grant supports Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation in providing technical assistance to the Arkansas Association of Community Colleges to help their 22 institutions statewide serve as leaders for regional workforce development partnerships.