This grant supports Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University's participation in the Siyaphumelela ("We Succeed") initiative, expanding South Africa's national student success network from seven to 20 of the country's 26 universities. By joining Siyaphumelela, SMU will leverage evidence-based student success strategies to increase postsecondary attainment rates, enhance individual social mobility, and contribute to South Africa's prosperity while addressing the legacy of educational inequity. View Website

This three-year unrestricted capacity-building grant supports The Center for Equitable Higher Education (CEHE), California's only research center exclusively focused on higher education basic needs. CEHE conducts research and evaluation to address food insecurity, housing instability, and inadequate healthcare and childcare access among college students. The center's work aims to drive California's higher education systems to prioritize student basic needs and implement equitable, effective programs that enable students to thrive and graduate, removing structural barriers to educational opportunity. View Website

This capacity-building grant supports strategic planning to develop a new organizational strategy and sustainable financial model for the National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education. The planning process aims to strengthen the organization's ability to improve educational experiences and outcomes for Native and Indigenous college students by equipping higher education professionals with culturally responsive knowledge and tools that foster Native student success and expand pathways to opportunity in higher education. View Website

First Gen Empower will launch Undocu-Ally, a certified training program that equips higher education and nonprofit staff with the knowledge and resources to create more inclusive and supportive environments for undocumented students. This capacity-building initiative strengthens pathways to opportunity by dismantling barriers that undocumented students face in accessing and succeeding in higher education and beyond, directly advancing educational equity for one of America's most vulnerable student populations. View Website

This grant will support the Upjohn Institute to enhance and expand resources for place-based college promise programs by updating the Free College Handbook, developing actionable best practices and strategies for cities, and redesigning its national database of local Promise programs. The work responds to the dramatic growth of the College Promise movement—which has expanded by 730% over the past decade to more than 400 localities and community colleges across every state—by providing critical tools and knowledge to help cities effectively implement tuition-free pathways to college that expand educational opportunity and economic mobility. View Website

Generation Hope will provide comprehensive support to student parents pursuing college degrees and their families in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., while simultaneously working with higher education institutions to identify and remove systemic barriers to graduation. This three-year capacity-building investment strengthens pathways to economic mobility for student parents—a population facing compounded challenges in accessing higher education—by addressing both individual family needs and institutional policies. By centering the success of student parents, this grant advances educational equity and creates intergenerational opportunities for families in urban communities. View Website

Mile2 Consulting will support 3-5 community colleges across three states to launch Medicaid-funded health services, including mental health services, which are frequently cited as critical barriers to student success. With only a few dozen community colleges currently participating in Medicaid, this project will model and provide case studies demonstrating how institutions can build capacity to sustain student health services and remove barriers to educational attainment. View Website

This grant supports the 15th annual HBCU Philanthropy Symposium, a vital platform for HBCU fundraising professionals, advancement leaders, and institutional stakeholders to strengthen their capacity in philanthropy and partnership development. By investing in the professional development of advancement leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, this grant helps build the institutional capacity of institutions that serve predominantly Black students and play a critical role in expanding educational opportunity and economic mobility. View Website

This grant will enable the Presidents’ Alliance for Higher Education and Immigration to improve opportunities and support for undocumented students. The Alliance will educate higher education leaders and key stakeholders about the challenges undocumented students face to access higher education. This grant will also help increase campus engagement among Texas higher education presidents and stakeholders to share better resources and strategies to support undocumented students. View Website

This grant will enable New America to undertake two research projects to combat pandemic-related declines in community college enrollment. The first will conduct case studies to profile three community colleges that have weathered enrollment declines better than the average college or have reversed their declines. The second will conduct a nationally representative survey of current community college students and stopped-out students to develop policy recommendations supporting students’ re-enrollment. View Website

Listen4Good will support 12 direct service grantee organizations with one-to-one coaching, group learning and curated tools and resources to build their capacity to listen systematically and center student voices in decision-making. View Website

This grant will enable Rutgers University’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI) to prepare 40 institutional leaders to step into executive roles at MSIs. The MSI Aspiring Leaders will receive mentoring from current MSI presidents and coaching by executive search firms and will participate in programming on critical issues like student success, fundraising, strategic finance and crisis management. View Website

This capacity-building grant will enable The Steve Fund to lead the first-of-its-kind partnership effort to build HBCUs’ capacity to help students achieve academic, career and personal success by leveraging mental health and emotional wellbeing support. The Steve Fund will partner with key organizations to disseminate a survey to HBCU students and staff, and develop and deliver actionable evidence-based approaches to advance policy, practices and programs at HBCUs. View Website

This project will enable Mile2 Consulting to catalyze increased Medicaid usage by community colleges by providing college leaders and others with data about current usage, increasing awareness of the potential for new revenues, and inspiring action to expand and sustainably fund on-campus health services. View Website

This grant will leverage lessons learned from the BOOST initiative, particularly that most college students are not accessing federally funded basic needs supports like SNAP, Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), WIC, and Medicaid. This grant will allow Benefits Data Trust (BDT) to support colleges in enrolling their students in publicly available basic needs programs. View Website

This grant will enable the Education Strategy Group to launch and manage the Regional Adult Initiative for Skills and Employment (RAISE) effort. View Website

This grant will enable the National Center for Inquiry and Improvement (NCII) to partner with the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Ohio Student Success Center to scale Ohio’s successful Leadership Academy in three new states.  Ascendium, ECMC Foundation and Kresge will each fund one state’s implementation of a year-long, student success-focused professional development program for mid-level community college faculty and staff. View Website

This grant will enable the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (JNGI) to launch the first phase of the “Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience” project, co-funded equally by Ascendium and the Bill and Melinda Gates and ECMC Foundations. View Website

This grant will enable the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) to create a framework for how higher education institutions can incorporate student perspectives in the development and implementation of college admission policies, processes and practices.  NACAC will convene a group of students and college admissions specialists to develop this equity-focused framework and disseminate it to its 25,000 members with the goal of encouraging and equipping institutions to more intentionally include student perspectives. This grant aligns with one of the Education Team’s 2022 grantmaking strategies, “promoting student voice.” View Website

This Education and Human Services grant will strengthen Generation Hope's efforts to support college students who are parents (some 20% of undergraduates) and who rarely receive childcare and other supports needed to complete degrees. This grant expands to additional colleges the FamilyU Initiative, which provides consulting and professional development to college leaders representing 27,000 enrolled students .Generation Hope will also develop tools to promote systemic policy changes supporting student parents. View Website