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Special initiatives and clusters

From time to time, Lumina Foundation identifies and initiates a special program that has the potential to improve postsecondary access and success. We generally solicit participation in these efforts, rather than accepting unsolicited proposals.

For example, Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a multiyear national initiative to help more community college students succeed. Community colleges enroll almost half of all U.S. undergraduate students. But fewer than half of community college students meet their educational goals. This initiative primarily focuses on students who traditionally have faced significant barriers to success, including students of color and low-income students. The goal is to help more students earn certificates or degrees that open the door to better jobs, further education, and greater opportunity. Grants to a selected pool of colleges have already been made.

Another special cluster of grants includes College Goal Sunday℠, which assists families in applying for financial aid; Indiana programs; and new work that will examine the college-cost issue and its implications for policy and practice.

A third Lumina-funded grants program is KnowHow2GO, a public awareness campaign involving the Ad Council and other partners. KnowHow2GO informs eighth through 10th grade students about what it takes to get to college. Lumina's direct-service access support previously offered through the McCabe Fund is now invested in strengthening specific statewide efforts and access networks of local service providers who will respond to student- and family-generated inquiries from the KnowHow2GO campaign.

KnowHow2GO also features a network of educational institutions, youth organizations, community groups and businesses that offer support to students. This "ground campaign" complements the media campaign.

Currently, our KnowHow2Go investments are focused mainly in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Washington State. Other states have adopted elements of the KnowHow2GO campaign in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Montana and Tennessee. If your organization is affiliated with a statewide access network or local program in these locations, and you would like more information about the KH2GO campaign and resources, please contact Jeanna Keller.