News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2005

Second-quarter 2005 grants announced

INDIANAPOLIS – Lumina Foundation for Education announced today 61 grant approvals totaling about $19 million to organizations across the country that expand college access and student success.

“The Foundation continues to address the multiple barriers that impede access to and success in postsecondary education, particularly among traditionally underserved groups,” said Martha D. Lamkin, president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis-based Foundation. “The Foundation supports research, programs, policy work and professional leadership aimed at expanding access to education beyond high school.”

Grants approved are listed below and grouped by the Foundation’s major priorities.

Access
Big Brother Big Sisters of Central Indiana (Indianapolis, IN) - $34,200 to assess the feasibility of merging mentoring activities at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana (BBBS) with those at College Mentors for Kids (College Mentors) to increase access to postsecondary education for students in both programs.

Institute for Higher Education Policy (Washington, DC) – $2,921,202 to continue to implement the Building Engagement and Attainment in Minority Students (BEAMS) Project.

Institute for International Education (New York, NY) – $150,000 to support students whose sources of support have been affected by the December 2004 tsunami.

The National Equity Center (Owings Mills, MD) – $300,000 to increase the number of underserved students who enroll in and graduate from postsecondary institutions and become advocates to help underserved students in the future.

American Student Achievement Institute (Bloomington, IN) – $1,602,900 to prepare students for postsecondary education by increasing academic rigor and standards in high school.

The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio (Nelsonville, OH) – $210,000 to increase the rate of access and success of Appalachian Ohio citizens in achieving postsecondary education.

Board of Directors of Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) – $10,000 to support activities associated with the 30th annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Project GRAD USA (Houston, TX) – $250,000 to build efficient and sustainable college access system for underserved students.

Educational Policy Institute, Inc. (Stafford, VA) - $12,500 to print an additional 2,500 copies of the publication entitled “Latino Students and the Educational Pipeline” and distribute them at national education meetings where the author is speaking on the subject and through mailings to individuals and organizations.

Education Policy Institute, Inc. (Stafford, VA) - $10,000 to fund the publication and dissemination costs of producting the report entitled “Postsecondary Success for Latino Youth.”

Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research & Planning (Bloomington, IN) – $8,700 to support dissemination of “Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter.”

McCabe Fund
This initiative supports organizations that enable students – particularly first-generation college students, low-income students and students of color – to gain access to postsecondary education. The McCabe Fund provides modest, competitive grants for programs that work directly with students to improve access to postsecondary education. Grant proposals for this initiative are accepted by invitation only and span two years. The grants listed below were awarded as part of the McCabe Fund.

National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (Washington, DC) – $539,000 to convene the new McCabe grantees in 2005-2007.
Teachers College of Columbia University (New York, NY) – $136,000 to document the best practices and impact of the McCabe Fund pre-college access programs.
Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges, Inc. (Milwaukee, WI) – $92,300 to provide pre-college access services to 130 high school students in Milwaukee, WI.
Breakthrough (Austin, TX) – $100,000 to support new Breakthrough access programs for 380 middle school students at program sites in Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Manchester, New Hampshire; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Horizons National Student Enrichment Program, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) – $100,000 to provide access and academic enrichment programming to 192 students in the Indianapolis Public Schools.
MDC (Chapel Hill, NC) - $9,400 to support participation in the College readiness/College Success Summit hosted by the Educational Testing Service on April 28-29, 2005.
Orange County Bar Foundation, Inc. (Irvine, CA) – $100,000 to assist 45 low-income, female Latino students access higher education through a mentoring program.
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (New York, NY) – $100,000 to provide access services to underserved students in two additional high schools in New York City.

College Goal Sunday
College Goal Sunday provides free information and assistance to families applying for college financial aid in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Financial aid professionals in these states help families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The following grants are part of the College Goal Sunday program.

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (Washington, DC) – $272,600 to support additional activities not covered in the three-year grant for the daily management of College Goal Sunday.
Minnesota Higher Education Services Office (St. Paul, MN) – $7,500 to conduct planning for a 2006 College Goal Sunday event in Minnesota.
New Jersey Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (Lincroft, NJ) – $6,800 to conduct planning for a 2006 College Goal Sunday event in New Jersey.
Tennessee Higher Education Commission (Nashville, TN) – $7,500 to conduct planning for a 2006 college Goal Sunday event in Tennessee.
Wisconsin Association of Student Financial Aid Administration (Sheboygan, WI) – $7,500 to conduct planning for a 2006 college Goal Sunday event in Wisconsin.

Breaking the Cycle
Breaking the Cycle is an initiative to help former foster youth prepare for and transition to college. The following organization is testing a project that may help close the gap in postsecondary achievement for former foster youth.

Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG) (Basehor, KS) – $10,000 to inform and connect funders interested in assisting youth in juvenile justice, foster youth and out-of-school youth communities.
Silicon Valley Children’s Fund (San Jose, CA) – $10,000 to evaluate the Youth Education Scholarships (YES) program to better understand the impact of the YES program on foster youth’s college access and attainment.

Success
MDRC (New York, NY) - $227,100 to document and evaluate the implementation of the DreamKeepers Emergency Financial Aid program administered by Scholarship America and to the American Indian College Fund.

Minnesota Higher Education Services Office (St. Paul, MN) – $216,900 to help as many as 50 analysts working in 12 states interpret the 2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) state-representative data.

National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education (Albuquerque, NM) – $25,000 to fund the 2005 annual institute to convene Native American educators.

The University of Massachusetts, Boston (Boston, MA) – $208,400 to study factors affecting the successful transfer of community college students to selective four-year institutions.

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count
Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a long-term national initiative that helps community colleges remove barriers to success for all students. Funded by Lumina Foundation, the initiative is managed by MDC, Inc., and includes several other partner organizations: the American Association of Community Colleges; the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas-Austin; the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University; Jobs for the Future; KnowledgeWorks Foundation, MDRC; Nellie Mae Education Foundation; and Public Agenda. The grants below were awarded as part of the Achieving the Dream initiative.

Each of the institutions listed below will receive $400,000 to support the implementation of institutional change in the Achieving the Dream initiative.

Alamo Community College District (San Antonio, TX)

Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (Albuquerque, NM)

Brookhaven College (Dallas, TX)

Broward Community College (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

Coastal Bend College (Beeville, TX)

Danville Community College (Danville, VA)

Durham Technical Community College (Durham, NC)

El Paso Community College District (El Paso, TX)

Galveston College (Galveston, TX)

Guilford Technical Community College (Jamestown, NC)

Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, FL)

Houston Community College System (Houston, TX)

Martin Community College (Williamston, NC)

Mountain Empire Community College (Big Stone Gap, VA)

New Mexico State University - Dona Ana Branch (Las Cruces, NM)

Patrick Henry Community College (Martinsville, VA)

Paul D. Camp Community College (Franklin, VA )

San Juan College (Farmington, NM)

Santa Fe Community College (Santa Fe, NM)

South Texas Community College (McAllen, TX)

Southwest Texas Junior College (Uvalde, TX)

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (Albuquerque, NM)

Tallahassee Community College (Tallahassee, FL)

Tidewater Community College (Norfolk, VA)

University of New Mexico (Gallup, Gallup, NM)

Wayne Community College (Goldsboro, NC)

Valencia Community College (Orlando, FL)

Public Agenda Foundation (New York, NY) – $488,200 to support Public Agenda’s work as a partner in the Achieving the Dream initiative.

Special Grants
Education Writers Association (Washington, DC) – $8,000 to support an organizational assessment.

National Rural Funders Collaborative (Dallas, TX) – $200,000 to expand philanthropy in rural communities of color.

Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) - $36,000 to provide operating support for Indianapolis Downtown, Inc.

CONTACT:
Dollyne Sherman, Director of Communication
Lumina Foundation for Education
dsherman@luminafoundation.org
317-951-5493

About Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through grants for research, innovation, communication, and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development, Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students, particularly underserved student groups, including adult learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people.