ECMC Foundation Grants $5.3 Million to Postsecondary Education Programs
December 26, 2018
By Julie Bos, ECMC Foundation Contributing Writer
ECMC Foundation has committed $5,301,533, to eight organizations, bringing its total 2018 grant and program-related investment commitments to approximately $34 million to date. These grants support grantees’ efforts to pilot new initiatives, replicate programs with successful outcomes in new markets, conduct field and market research, evaluate existing programs and design new systems and processes.
A selection of grants made are listed below. For a full list of grants made by the Foundation visit ECMC Foundation’s Grants & Investments.
College Success Grants
- A grant of $800,000 was made to Excelencia in Education, a national organization that aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students by linking research, policy, and practice to serve Latino students and the institutions and programs where they participate. ECMC Foundation funding will help the organization launch the Seal of Excelencia and the Ladder of Engagement—two core companion efforts that will shift institutional focus toward accountability of Latino student success and degree completion.
- A grant of $500,000 was made to 10,000 Degrees (10KD), a nonprofit organization that provides personalized guidance for first-generation and low-income college students in California through a near-peer mentoring model. ECMC Foundation funding will support 10KD’s Community College Success Initiative, which provides targeted support to students enrolled at community colleges for timely transfer to four-year colleges, and will help identify opportunities for program expansion to community colleges statewide.
- A grant of $300,000 was made to University of Southern California’s Pullias Center for Higher Education, a leading research centers on higher education that advances innovative, scalable solutions to improve college outcomes for underserved students and enhances the performance of postsecondary institutions. ECMC Foundation funding will support a case study on five California State University campuses’ Men of Color retention programs and conduct a national scan to understand and disseminate the strengths and weaknesses of these programs.
Career Readiness Grants
- A grant of $1,056,000 was made to the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), a national association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers. ECMC Foundation funding will support the design and administration of the Postsecondary Leadership Success Program at ACTE—Sponsored by ECMC Foundation (PLSP), in which two successive cohorts of 20 postsecondary career and technical education professionals will participate in a focused and personalized yearlong program of professional and leadership development.
- A grant of $1,241,625 was made to Education Design Lab (EDL), a nonprofit organization committed to proactively identifying gaps in the education-to-work ecosystem that require next-generation solutions. ECMC Foundation funding will support the launch and test of scalable interventions at community colleges that will improve single mothers’ college graduation rates.
- A grant of $750,000 was made to Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM), a nonprofit organization focused on basic needs and workforce development for vulnerable populations. ECMC Foundation funding will support LMM’s efforts to implement and offer an accredited associate degree and develop a sustainable funding structure for the program.
- A grant of $375,000 was made to MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that builds knowledge about the most effective ways to improve the educational and labor market outcomes of low-income individuals. ECMC Foundation funding will support MDRC’s scan of community college-operated career and technical education programs to assess the potential value and feasibility of adapting sector-like features for community college programs. Funding will also support the ongoing development of a Center for Effective Career and Technical Education at MDRC.
- A grant of $278,908 was made to RAND Corporation (RAND), a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to make global communities safer, healthier and more prosperous. ECMC Foundation funding will help RAND analyze administrative data on students’ enrollment and employment trajectories to assess the state of Ohio’s credit-bearing workforce certificate and degree pathways—ultimately improving the understanding about how these pathways shape educational and employment outcomes.