California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio receive grants to support state-led efforts to better serve adults seeking education after high school
INDIANAPOLIS – Lumina Foundation has awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to six states supporting adults who want to earn college degrees, certificates, and other quality credentials beyond a high school diploma.
California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio will form the second cohort of Lumina’s Adult Promise effort, a partnership with the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). Collectively, these states expect to reach at least 2 million adult students and award tens of thousands of new post-high school credentials within the next two years.
Grantees include the foundation for California Community Colleges, the official auxiliary to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office; the University of Hawaii System; the Idaho State Board of Education; Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education; a partnership between the University of North Carolina System and the North Carolina Community College System; and the Ohio Department of Higher Education. States were selected through a highly competitive grant process that involved 25 applications from 22 states.
These states join the initial cohort of Adult Promise states that Lumina announced in November 2017: Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Washington. To date, Lumina has invested nearly $6.5 million in the Adult Promise effort.
“Serving many more adults with no prior higher-ed experience will be critical to achieving the nation’s goal of 60 percent of working-age Americans having a degree or other high-quality credential by 2025,” said Danette Howard, Lumina’s senior vice president and chief strategy officer. “We are excited more states are investing in efforts to help adults finish their education.”
To receive grants, states must show that they have financial aid for adults in place; a strong commitment to achieving fair and just educational outcomes among people of color; a clear readiness and intention to promote systemic change benefiting adults; and buy-in among stakeholders such as employers, public colleges and universities, community organizations, and state leaders.
“Today more than half of states are embracing the need to serve adults as the future of education and workforce education,” said Terri Taylor, Lumina’s deputy director for postsecondary finance and project lead for the Adult Promise strategy. “We achieve the best results when Lumina’s priorities match those of the field.”
About Lumina
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Lumina envisions a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s need for talent through a broad range of credentials. The foundation’s goal is to prepare people for informed citizenship and for success in a global economy.
The following chart summarizes the grants.
State | Activities | Populations served |
California |
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Hawaii |
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Idaho |
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Kentucky |
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North Carolina |
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Ohio |
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Related:
Never Too Late: A Foundation’s Latest Investment in Adult Education | Inside Philanthropy | Nov. 27, 2018