Back To Talent Hubs

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Lead Partner: United Way of Central New Mexico / Graduate! ABQ
Additional Partner: Central New Mexico Community College
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Hispanic, American Indian, and low-income students, incarcerated people, enrollees in adult basic education

Albuquerque is building its efforts around Mission: Graduate’s “Adult Transitions to College,” a strategy that aims to boost the number of working-age adults who enroll in postsecondary programs and earn a credential. Known as Graduate! ABQ, the partnership seeks to transform systems so they better serve adults’ educational needs. Collaborating with local agencies such as Central New Mexico Community College and Workforce Connection of Central New Mexico, the partnership will help adults transition seamlessly to postsecondary institutions. This “warm hand-off” means introducing students to advisors, making sure students take measures to stay on track, and eliminating barriers such as hard-to-access information and intimidating enrollment processes.


Boston Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: The Boston Foundation
Additional Partners: University of Massachusetts BostonBunker Hill Community College
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, low-income students

The Success Boston partnership will build on its nine-year-long efforts to create guided pathways for students at Bunker Hill Community College and UMass Boston. The initial pathway will focus on the liberal arts, the most common area of study for graduates of Boston Public Schools who attend these colleges. A citywide college completion initiative, Success Boston will facilitate clear and transparent communication among partners, which in turn will help students enroll, persist, and shorten their time to degree. The partnership will also create academic pathways that integrate career competency, helping boost the completion rate from 51.3 percent to 70 percent by 2020. The liberal arts pathway will inform future pathway creation, while driving changes in campus systems that will benefit not only Success Boston students but many others as the partnership shares its lessons broadly.


Cincinnati (with Covington and Newport, Kentucky) Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Strive Partnership (Intergenerational Success Project)
Additional Partners: Cincinnati State Technical and Community CollegeGateway Community and Technical College
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, low-income students, single-parent families

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Talent Hub will drive regional partners to better align programs and supports, working to break the cycle of poverty among a population critical to regional economic development. Building on StrivePartnership’s Cradle-to-Career work, the Intergenerational Success Project takes a two-generation approach to reaching the single mothers of children served by the Strive network of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. Leveraging existing efforts by community organizations, workforce development programs, employers and community colleges, the Talent Hub will remove bureaucratic barriers that hamper women pursuing careers. The partners will guide these women along pathways that end with credentials for stable employment and a living wage. Led by StrivePartnership, regional partners include Brighton Center, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Gateway Community and Technical College, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, and the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.


Cleveland, Ohio Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: College Now Greater Cleveland
Additional Partners: Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland, Cleveland State University, Team NEO
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black students
Geographic Focus: Cuyahoga County, Ohio

College Now Greater Cleveland and Cleveland State University have been working in close partnership for three years on improving the outcomes of adult students at CSU. CSU has demonstrated a willingness to “share” students with other schools as an overall good for the student and the community. The work has not focused on equity. The Talent Hub will be the framework to move College Now, CSU and the County to be explicit in stating that equity is key to the area’s success. The Talent Hub will boost access, persistence and completion for Black adult students. The Talent Hub will build on our community’s will to address systemic barriers to postsecondary education and leverage state-wide efforts to support adult postsecondary educational attainment. The Talent Hub will implement necessary institutional changes identified in a CAEL Adult Learner 360 assessment to ensure that adult students’ needs are met as well as identify, and eradicate already identified, institutional and state policy barriers. These activities alone will dramatically affect access, persistence, and completion. The Talent Hub will also build on the existing efforts to fill careers that are in-demand by creating adult-friendly internship pathways in Northeast Ohio with local employers and will facilitate solutions to inequities in the employment outcomes of Black graduates by educating participating employers.


Columbus and Southeastern Indiana Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Community Education Coalition / EcO Network
Additional Partners: Ivy Tech Community College Columbus, Adult Education Providers
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Hispanic and low-income students, immigrants/refugees, limited English speakers

The EcO Network of Southeast Indiana will partner with Ivy Tech Community College and the region’s Adult Education Providers to leverage an established network of employer and community partners across 10 counties to expand and connect programs that are successfully supporting adults with no college. The network will enhance supports for low-income adults, Hispanics, immigrants and refugees and people with limited English proficiency. By better linking partners and programs, the network will accelerate educational attainment, preparing students for jobs in high-demand fields.


Corpus Christi, Texas Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Citizens for Educational Excellence
Additional Partner: Del Mar College
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Hispanic, low-income, military veterans

Corpus Christi is booming, and with an aging workforce, its need for educated and skilled workers is greater than ever. Addressing this need, the Corpus Christi Talent Hub is focused on increasing the postsecondary attainment of individuals with some college and no degree, especially those who are Hispanic and low-income. Ninety percent of students at Del Mar College, the city’s community college, come from and remain in Corpus Christi, making it imperative that enrollment, retention, and success rates improve. Del Mar’s goal is to award 2,300 certificates or degrees and 700 high-quality continuing education credentials by 2020. To reach it, the partnership will develop additional Fast Track programs, complete guided education pathways to high-demand jobs, connect stop-outs with caring adults, re-engage those who have left college, use analytics to monitor progress of students who have re-enrolled, expand the use of prior learning assessments, examine and implement policies to increase completion, and work with employers to increase internship and apprenticeship opportunities.


Dayton, Ohio Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Learn to Earn Dayton
Additional Partners: Sinclair Community CollegeWright State UniversityUniversity of Dayton
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black students, low-income students, individuals with some college experience population

The Dayton and Montgomery County Talent Hub aligns, maximizes, and expands existing postsecondary attainment strategies for traditional-age students, with particular emphasis on under-represented, low-income students, especially Black males. The Dayton Talent Hub will also support those 25 years and older who have some college experience but no credential. Dayton will build on proven initiatives with institutional and local philanthropic support that strengthen culturally responsive educational practices, co-requisite remediation, guided pathways, and redesigned academic advising. Grounded in disaggregated data, and committed to using data for continuous improvement, the partnership works collaboratively to close pervasive achievement gaps in their community.

Related:
Ohio, Dayton trail in earning degrees, but seeing growth | Dayton Daily News | Feb. 24, 2020


Denver Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Denver Education Attainment Network (DEAN)
Additional Partners: Emily Griffith Technical CollegeUniversity of Colorado DenverMetropolitan State University DenverCommunity College of Denver
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, low-income students

Denver Direct Pathways (DDP) is designed to increase attainment rates and improve outcomes for underserved minority and low-income students. Building on evidence-based strategies employed by Denver Education Attainment Network (DEAN) partners, DDP will help students choose which courses to take, encourage them to select a major or program of study early on, and provide them with intensive advising. DDP is both a college completion and workforce development strategy, offering students clearly articulated paths to high-quality credentials and workforce opportunities. It will also promote opportunities for early certificates, use concurrent enrollment programs, and support early success in gateway courses within guided pathways in four high-demand fields. It will also provide multiple entry and exit points, allowing students to use their credentials in the workforce. In addition, when possible, DDP will facilitate the timely and efficient completion of certificate and/or degree requirements with full transfer capabilities.


Detroit, Michigan Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation / Detroit Drives Degrees
Additional Partners: Macomb Community CollegeWayne State University
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black, low-income

The Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation, Wayne State University, and Macomb Community College have come together to help 35,000 adults with some postsecondary experience complete their education by 2020. The Detroit Talent Hub is committed to increasing opportunity among Black and low-income adults. The Talent Hub will draw on successful practices for encouraging adult postsecondary enrollment, persistence and completion, leveraging the strong relationship between Wayne State and Macomb. The Detroit Regional Chamber will expand and systematize these practices with the rest of the region’s two-year and four-year institutions through its Detroit Drives Degrees Education Compact. As part of this effort, Wayne State will institute a new debt-forgiveness policy for returning low-income students, and Wayne State and Macomb will introduce enhanced guided pathways for transferring adults. Overall, the Talent Hub will use four interwoven strategies: Leveraging relationships and reducing barriers to regional collaboration; overcoming barriers to postsecondary attainment for working adults; strengthening academic pathways and practices that support adult attainment; and improving student supports and communities that promote and sustain persistence, educational engagement, and completion


Elkhart County, Indiana Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Horizon Education Alliance
Additional Partners: Goshen CollegeIvy Tech Community College
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Hispanic, low-income, immigrant/refugee, limited English proficiency

Elkhart County’s industry leaders, postsecondary institutions, adult education providers and community partners are working to ensure that the county has a flexible and innovative pathway system with multiple points of entry and diverse delivery systems for adult learners. The collaborative work will increase the number of workers with no current postsecondary experience who attain an industry-recognized credential or degree. The alignment between postsecondary attainment and current workforce needs is central to the model: Postsecondary and adult education partners are working with the county’s highest-demand industries to design training and registered apprenticeship programs that lead to a credential or degree in those fields. The community is especially embedding supports for Hispanic adults; postsecondary partners are designing adult pathway programs that lead to industry-recognized credentials, expanding English language classes that lead directly into degree programs, providing credential programs in Spanish or two languages, increasing tutoring and mentoring for Hispanic students, and building all partners’ capacity to collaboratively and effectively serve Hispanic and low-income adults.


Fresno, California Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Central Valley Higher Education Consortium / Fresno Compact
Additional Partners: CSU FresnoClovis Community CollegeFresno City CollegeReedley CollegeWest Hills CoalingaWest Hills Lemoore
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, low-income students

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and The Fresno Compact bring together businesses, postsecondary and secondary institutions, the Fresno mayor’s office and community organizations in a concentrated effort to prepare students for the demands of society and the workplace. By reforming remedial programs and using best practices in co-requisite models, the Fresno Talent Hub will boost completion rates for gateway courses, full-time enrollment, student retention, and degree attainment. The Talent Hub will strengthen current efforts to increase Fresno County’s overall degree attainment, specifically among Hispanic, Black, and low-income populations.


Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: UNITE-LA
Additional Partners: California State University-Northridge, Los Angeles Community College District
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Hispanics, low-income students

California’s San Fernando Valley region recently developed an award-winning reverse-transfer partnership that started with the L.A. Compact’s Student Success Workgroup convened by UNITE-LA. The partnership seeks to identify students who transferred from three community colleges—Los Angeles Mission, Pierce, and Valley—to California State University-Northridge without earning an associate degree and who later stopped out without finishing a bachelor’s. The partners will work to aggregate the credits these students earned among their institutions to retroactively award associate degrees. As a Talent Hub, the partners are expanding the project to identify and re-engage first-time freshmen who stopped out of Cal State Northridge, helping them earn an associate degree at Mission, Pierce, or Valley while at the same time progressing toward a bachelor’s. With a guarantee of readmission Cal State Northridge, these students will be able to complete their associate and bachelor’s degrees in two years each.

Related:
New Partnership Helps CSUN Transfer Students Earn Community College Degrees | CSUN | Oct. 25, 2017


Las Vegas, Nevada Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: United Way of Southern Nevada
Additional Partner: College of Southern Nevada
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, low-income

United Way of Southern Nevada, the College of Southern Nevada (CSN), the Nevada System of Higher Education and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation will work collaboratively to boost attainment for learners ages 18-24. The Talent Hub will work to scale up and coordinate two main strategies: guided pathways at CSN and integrated postsecondary workforce education and training. The pathways will employ strategies such as intensive onboarding of newly enrolled students, academic mapping, proactive academic and career advising, and instructional support and co-curricular activities. The partnership will also expand work-based learning, including registered apprenticeships and programs leading to work-based credentials. Both strategies emphasize intensive, proactive, and integrated student support and case management.


Mobile, Alabama Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Mobile Area Education Foundation
Additional Partners: Bishop State Community CollegeUniversity of South AlabamaCoastal Alabama Community College
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black and low-income students

Aiming for 75,000 degrees or credentials by 2030, the Mobile Talent Hub will create pathways for students to transfer, receive a credential, and complete their education. The approach will boost completion among traditional 18- to 24-year-olds, specifically low-income and Black students, with a seamless system of supports at every transition point. Leveraging the 75K Degrees blueprint, which provides recommendations to improve postsecondary outcomes, the Talent Hub will support students in four areas: Increasing persistence and on-time graduation; creating a “transfer culture” at the University of South Alabama; scaling and promoting high-quality certificate programs and pathways with multi-tiered supports for Black and low-income students; and improving system-level policies that drive attainment.


Nashville, Tennessee Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Additional Partners: Nashville State Community CollegeTennessee College of Applied Technology—Nashville
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Black and low-income students

The Nashville Talent Hub works to ensure equitable access to the area’s prospering economy through postsecondary attainment that leads to careers. The community will create an environment in which there is no “wrong door” for adults who want to go back to college or enter for the first time. The work will support adult attainment in the city’s poorest areas: Nashville’s Promise Zone neighborhoods. Beginning in the fall of 2018, adults in Tennessee will enjoy free tuition for technical and community college. The Talent Hub will leverage that benefit, along with federal student aid, Middle Tennessee Reconnect (the community’s high-touch advising program), the Financial Empowerment Zone, the mayor’s office and faith- and community-based organizations to align programs and services that increase enrollment, persistence, and success. Nashville State Community College and TCAT Nashville are building a student-centered, completion-oriented culture for adults. Meanwhile, employers will provide students and graduates with internships, learn-and-earn opportunities and careers in high-growth sectors.

Related:
Two unique programs are helping Nashville adults go back to school | Brookings | Feb. 11, 2020


New York City Back to top ↑

Lead partner: City University of New York Academic Affairs
Additional Partner: City University of New York
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, and veterans

New York’s Talent Hub, NYC Career Pathways for Adult Learners, will serve as a central source for academic policies, programs, data and best practices for adult students. It seeks to improve graduation rates for the thousands of New York City adults who have not yet earned a college credential. The Talent Hub will establish a data baseline by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of adult learners to determine the effective and replicable practices and policies. It will implement an improved advising model for adult students, and expand partnerships with employers to create programs and apprenticeships that connect to education pathways for current employees. The Talent Hub will also establish uniform policies regarding credit for professional licenses, co-enrollment programs, and credit for prior learning across all 24 CUNY campuses.


Northeast Indiana Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership
Additional Partners: Grace College, Huntington University, Indiana Institute of Technology, Indiana University Fort Wayne, Ivy Tech Community College, Manchester University, Purdue Fort Wayne, Trine University, University of Saint Francis
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black students
Geographic Focus: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley Counties, Indiana

The Northeast Indiana Colleges and Universities network (Network) is a network of 10 unaffiliated higher education institutions with a primary physical presence in the 11 counties of Northeast Indiana. The Network is building on its history of collaborative success to reengage adult students that have stopped out of Northeast Indiana’s higher educational institutions, with a specific emphasis on supporting Black students by: 1) Implementing and instituting debt forgiveness programs within the member-institutions of the Northeast Indiana Colleges and Universities network; and 2) Creating a cross-institutional program that will allow the transfer of transcripts, student data, and information to enable stop-outs of one institution to complete at another partner institution. Some members have experience in this areas, while others have no history of targeting returning adult students. But all members are excited to leverage the Network to build a regional approach to supporting this category of student and are fully committed to building these strategies into their own recruitment and student support efforts. Backbone support is provided by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership as part of its existing role as convener and facilitator of the Network. Additionally, the Regional Partnership is embedding this effort into its existing and extensive work-based learning efforts to ensure participating students are supported to, through, and after credential completion.


Philadelphia Back to top ↑

Lead partner: Graduate! Philadelphia
Additional partners: Community College of PhiladelphiaTemple UniversityThomas Edison State UniversityChestnut Hill College
Population focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity focus: Black and low-income students, and veterans

Graduate! Philadelphia and four institutional partners will build on existing college completion programs for comebackers, adults with some college but no degree, focusing on low-income adults and military veterans. The institutions—all yellow-ribbon designees with specific programs for veterans—will leverage their capacity for scale, institutional learning, and established practices that have shown success with adults. The Hub aims to make systemic, scalable, and sustainable changes in three key areas: Reverse transfer, prior learning assessment, and guided pathways. It seeks to scale up quality comebacker services, connecting comebackers to colleges and moving them to completion of credentials that lead to family-sustaining careers.


Racine, Wisconsin Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Higher Expectations for Racine County
Additional Partners: University of Wisconsin-ParksideGateway Technical College
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, and low-income students

Racine’s Higher Expectations includes a partnership among Building Our Future in Kenosha County, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Gateway Technical College to increase postsecondary attainment in Racine and Kenosha counties. The Talent Hub seeks to eliminate barriers to attainment by reforming remediation, improving academic support and advising, maximizing credit transfer, shortening time to degree, creating guided pathways and strengthening community partnerships to support low-income, underrepresented students. Each institution will use the Connecting Credentials framework to strengthen curricular alignment between institutions. By developing reverse transfer options, accelerating or eliminating remediation, implementing a structured approach to course-scheduling, and creating systems that support full-time enrollment the Racine Talent Hub will improve academic preparation, college access, persistence, and success.


Richmond, Virginia Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Bridging Richmond
Additional Partners: Brightpoint Community CollegeJ. Sargeant Reynolds Community CollegeVirginia Commonwealth University
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, and low-income students

Bridging Richmond—a collaboration among John Tyler and Reynolds community colleges, Virginia Commonwealth University, TRIO EOC, and United Way—will accelerate credential attainment by sharing data among institutions and targeting interventions to support adults with some postsecondary experience but no credential. The Talent Hub will establish data-sharing agreements and implement protocols for reverse transfer and degree reclamation among partner colleges serving the same students. The partners will also coordinate targeted advising and financial assistance programs, assisting students a few credits shy of a credential. Partners will also conduct audits of students who have dropped out of college after accumulating enough credits to earn a degree, then provide them with advice about their options. Finally, partners will align community supports and increase the number of micro-grants for needy students who are within one or two semesters of graduating.


Rio Grande Valley, Texas Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Communities Foundation of Texas / RGV Focus
Additional Partners: South Texas CollegeTexas Southmost CollegeUniversity of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Hispanic, low-income, limited English proficiency

The RGV Focus network strengthens and amplifies current strategies at higher education institutions that have proven effective in re-engaging students who have stopped out, encouraging them to return and helping them attain a credential by 2020. The network will build capacity for awarding degrees to reverse transfer students. By collaborating, sharing best practices and increasing communication with students and parents, the partners aim to increase the number of postsecondary degrees and credentials by almost 1,300 by 2020, and to continue that growth in perpetuity to significantly increase the number of degrees and credentials awarded in the region.


St. Louis, Missouri Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: St. Louis Graduates
Additional Partners: Maryville UniversitySoutheast Missouri State UniversityUniversity of Central MissouriUniversity of Missouri St. LouisWebster University
Population Focus: Students who enter college out of high school
Equity Focus: Black and low-income students

Multiple partners in St. Louis have signed a commitment to eliminate disparities in degree completion by race and income. A report commissioned by St. Louis Graduates/St. Louis Regional Chamber documents how five four-year institutions are graduating low-income and Black students with less debt. St. Louis Graduates is using this research to address two big barriers to student success: lack of sufficient and flexible financial aid, and timely academic support. Five institutional partners—Maryville University, Southeast Missouri State University, University of Central Missouri, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Webster University—are building effective programs on their own campuses and spurring their replication through the Student Success Learning Institute, which includes providing technical assistance for frontline staff in academics and financial aid. An online portal connects students to private scholarship resources, and a business fund will assist seniors who have exhausted their federal aid or have an unpaid balance.


Shasta County, California Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: North State Together
Additional Partners: University of California-Davis, College of the Siskiyous, Shasta CollegeCalifornia State University-Chico
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: American Indians, low-income students

Northern California works collaboratively to enhance educational options and boost economic development by re-engaging adults who have left the formal education system. Expanding programs such as ACE, BOLD, STEP UP and the Siskiyou County Adult Ed Diploma, North State Together will support adults who seek credentials or career opportunities. The programs already share features such as structured schedules, guided pathways, case management, cohort support, and worksite learning. By expanding assessments of prior learning, and options for competency-based learning, institutions will award students credit for what they already know and can do. The program will build off successful partnerships with local businesses, tribal communities and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act partners to help adults explore careers through a regional career portal and a virtual job-shadowing program.


Southwest Florida Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: FutureMakers Coalition
Additional Partners: Southwest Florida Community FoundationFlorida Gulf Coast University, Florida Southwestern State College, Lorenzo Walker Technical College, Fort Myers Technical College, Charlotte Technical College, Hendry County Schools, Cape Coral Technical College
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential & No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, American Indian
Geographic Focus: Glades, Hendry, Collier, Charlotte and Lee counties of Florida

FutureMakers Coalition builds on five years of transforming systems in Southwest Florida to increase the number of working-age adults with the credentials needed to fill in-demand jobs in the region. Leveraging the success of efforts that promote articulation and reverse articulation as well as programs that encourage adults returning to finish a degree, the coalition will accelerate efforts that support the region’s adult population with some college, but no credential. These include a stop-out initiative targeting students previously enrolled at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) and personalized advising for current completion options through degree programs designed to provide flexibility and interdisciplinary study. Enhanced coordination between the two institutions and a prior learning experience program utilizing non-traditional credentials for credit toward a degree will accelerate completion. A form of debt-forgiveness program will reduce financial barriers for adults returning to FGCU and help to sustain the work in perpetuity. Informed by best practices and lessons learned through FutureMakers’ technical college and adult education programs targeting adults without post-secondary experience, FGCU and FSW will engage in best practices to prepare students for reentry through academic support, promote flexible enrollment and completion, ease transfer practices, and ultimately increase academic credentials among returning students. Together, FGCU and FSW’s initiatives will bolster the FutureMakers Coalition’s progress toward its goal of transforming Southwest Florida’s workforce by increasing attainment from 38.85% to 55% by 2025.

Related:
Southwest Florida named U.S. Talent Hub | Charlotte Florida Weekly | Feb. 6, 2020


Tampa Bay, Florida Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Community Foundation of Tampa Bay
Additional Partners: LEAP Tampa Bay College Access Network, Hillsborough Community College, St. Petersburg College, University of South Florida, United Way Suncoast
Population Focus: Education beyond high school, but no credential
Equity Focus: Black, Hispanic, and low-income students
Geographic Focus: Tampa Bay—Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, Florida

The Tampa Bay Talent Hub brings together education, philanthropic, business and government organizations across our region to reach tens of thousands of Black, Hispanic and low-income people who started education or training after high school but got off track on the way to finishing. Through a targeted outreach strategy and carefully customized coaching and advising, prospective returning students are offered a chance to understand all their options for returning and what support is available, as well as see their pathway to high-wage, high-demand jobs in Tampa Bay. Building on a strong existing model for helping returning students, Tampa partners open the door to all in-person or online options. We listen to our students and use their feedback about the challenges of returning to construct better-supporting structures. Our Talent Hub shares information and collaborates to remove common barriers such as transferring of credits and offering credit for prior experience such as work or military service. We build networks of organizations to help bridge students back into their education or training program through access to financial aid and other supports. We work together to answer their questions and concerns, then connect them with workforce opportunities that make a significant difference for their families and strengthen our community.


Tulsa, Oklahoma Back to top ↑

Lead Partner: Tulsa Regional Chamber
Additional Partners: Tulsa Community CollegeTulsa Technology Center
Population Focus: No recognized learning beyond high school
Equity Focus: Hispanic and low-income students

The Tulsa Talent Hub will work to ensure that its education, workforce, community and economic development institutions make systemic changes that better serve students—specifically adults, Hispanics, and low-income residents. The Talent Hub will connect an array of partners, including Tulsa Community WorkAdvance, operated by Madison Strategies Group, helping them make the best of use of strategies such as wrap-around supports, career navigators, matching philanthropic dollars, tuition and fee forgiveness, stacked and latticed credentials, prior learning assessment, flexible schedules, contextualized learning for English language learners, and partnerships with employers in high-demand fields. Through these strategies, Tulsa will align postsecondary attainment with employment, ensuring that the target populations get secure, well-paying jobs with opportunities for advancement.