America needs clear paths to learning and success after high school that make the nation stronger and meet the needs of today’s student.

No matter where you come from, what you look like, or how much money your family has, you should have what you need to learn, grow, and thrive. Read more about Lumina’s Commitment to Racial Equity.

Lumina Foundation works in partnership with education and business leaders, civil rights organizations, policymakers, and individuals who want to reimagine how and where learning occurs.

AREAS OF FOCUS

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Justice for Today's Students
Policies, practices, and beliefs—rooted in history and still affecting people today—keep many Black, Native American, and Hispanic people from the education and skills they need.
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Our commitment to racial equity
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Lumina wants to ensure quality education for all Americans.
Find out how Lumina's efforts support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education.
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The Nation’s Progress

The United States faces an urgent and growing need for talent. Many more people of all races, ethnicities, ages, and income levels will need college degrees, certificates, industry certifications, and other credentials of value to join or remain in the middle class.

Success Stories

Aggies Elevated students Bret Giebel (left) and Willy Wilson.
Focus Magazine
Utah State program links students to good jobs
Aggies Elevated is a two-year program at Utah State University that is designed to serve students with intellectual disabilities well – not merely by providing opportunities for learning, but also by helping students land competitive, “real-world” employment after they graduate. The staff-intensive Aggies Elevated program typically serves about 15 students at a time. As of…
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Daniel Castellanos shows off his signature salad outside The Pressroom restaurant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Focus Magazine
‘Special ed goes to college’? Not at Millersville
The goal of the Integrated Studies program at Millersville University is to fully merge its students into college life. The 25 students on the university’s southeastern Pennsylvania campus live with roommates who aren’t part of the program. No classes or social events are designed exclusively for them. They join clubs on campus, but they do…
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Focus Magazine
Western Kentucky serves students on the spectrum
Western Kentucky University’s Circle of Support surrounds high-functioning students on the autism spectrum. Within the Circle—which is a feature of the university’s Kelly Autism Program (KAP)—services are robust: everything from single-room housing to frequent attendance at required “study table” sessions. The sessions are staffed by KAP employees who tutor students on academics while also advising…
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Students with instructor in an alternative classroom setting.
March 4, 2021
Putting equity first in scaling high-impact practices helps Black, Latino, and adult students thrive
By Jasmine Haywood
When designed and implemented with equitable outcomes in mind, more engaged and active teaching and learning approaches—known as “high-impact practices” (HIPs) —can benefit college students across the board, especially students of color and adults, a Lumina-supported project shows.
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Black woman leading a roundtable discussion.
March 3, 2021
Knowing the numbers on student borrowers of color doesn’t mean you understand the problem
By Terri Taylor
Anyone who pays attention to higher education policy should know by now the outsized debt burdens shouldered by Black, Hispanic or Latino, and Native American students. And yet we haven’t yet moved from admiring the problem to implementing solutions, in part because the space has been dominated by white policy experts (who are, frankly, like…
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Indiana Statehouse
March 2, 2021
There’s a Better Way to Defuse Racial Tension and Improve Legislative Debates
By Paola Santana, Scott Jenkins
With the brutal killing of George Floyd and last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, more state legislatures are debating measures that intersect with how we think about race in society. 
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March 2, 2021
New Online Guide: 10 Steps to Building Talent Locally
Communities struggling amid the pandemic are looking for ways to revive their local economies. While there’s no easy answer, Lumina Foundation has published an easy-to-grasp guide to developing the knowledge and skills of urban and rural residents with lessons drawn from the success of Talent Hubs across the country.
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Manny Cortez walking with his 19-year-old daughter Kelly on the campus of Goshen College.
March 2, 2021
Learning from Exemplars: How to build local talent
By Dakota Pawlicki
Economic recovery depends on the ability of regions to work collaboratively – that is the consensus of state and regional leaders who know we can’t return to pre-pandemic employment rates simply by incentivizing job creation. They know that the strength of the workforce is directly tied to a region’s housing, healthcare, education, and, increasingly, broadband.…
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Brothers Nicholas and Lukas Kwiatkowski at the Blum Inc. factory in Stanley, N.C.
March 2, 2021
Want to succeed in the era of ‘human work’? Own your learning.
By Jamie Merisotis
As technology and artificial intelligence bring sweeping changes to the modern workplace, workers must understand the need to develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities for human work throughout their lives and careers.
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Faceless dude in a suit coat pictured from the back standing at a lectern addressing a blurry crowd of people.
Feb. 25, 2021
Biden’s Education secretary must expel the harmful policies of the last four years
By Jamie Merisotis
A spirit of hard-hearted antagonism toward the missions of many federal agencies and the government workers serving them haunts the halls of the buildings along Independence Avenue, perhaps none more so than the Department of Education.
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