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News 2023

YWMC receives funding to expand reach of Coalition

The Yes We Must Coalition is pleased to announce a grant from a fund within the Gulf Coast Community Foundation that wishes to remain anonymous, to be used to expand the reach of the Coalition. The Fund will support the annual membership dues of seven new, qualifying institutions from the private, non-profit sector with 50% or more Pell-dependent undergraduates. Candidates can come from anywhere within the United States and Puerto Rico. We are very grateful for this support, which will help to bring more institutions to the collaborative work of the Coalition.

YWMC receives $2.5 million grant from Ascendium Education Group

The Yes We Must Coalition has received a three-year, $2.5 million grant from Ascendium Education Group to support 9 member institutions to intentionally integrate career preparation into 4-year degree programs and to adopt new curricular and co-curricular strategies to better align the student’s educational experience with career readiness. The grant, Addressing Inequity in College Retention of Low-Income Students: Collaboratively Creating Pathways to Careers in Four-Year Degree Programs, provides support for a partnership with Jobs for the Future (JFF) and with Sova. JFF will provide regional labor market information and will coach teams from the schools on how to obtain and use this information in the educational process. Sova will support YWMC with the implementation of the grant, including identifying and enlisting other experts with experience in implementing career pathways at scale. Sova will also help with building collaboration among the schools as they work on enriching the curriculum and co-curriculum. By the end of the third year of the grant, curricular and co-curricular redesign work will be well underway. As with all YWMC grant projects, progress, insights and challenges will be shared with the entire membership. The Yes We Must Coalition is grateful to Ascendium Education Group for this vote of confidence in the importance of the work of member institutions and the students they serve.

The degree programs to be redesigned include psychology, biology, business, sociology, theater and criminal justice. The 9 YWMC member institutions participating in the grant are:

  • American International College (MA)
  • Benedict College (SC)
  • Calumet College of St. Joseph (IN)
  • Mars Hill University (NC)
  • Mercy College (NY)
  • Saint Elizabeth University (NJ)
  • Trocaire College (NY)
  • Union College (KY)
  • Villa Maria College (NY)

See below for an article about this grant that appeared in the Ascendium Education Philanthropy News for September 21, 2023.

Ascendium Education Philanthropy News

How a Coalition of Nonprofit, Private Colleges Is Tackling Economic Inequity

Although the vast majority of learners pursue postsecondary education in hopes of landing a good job, career advising is frequently limited and opportunities such as internships are often out of reach for learners from low-income backgrounds — many of whom work while attending college and can’t afford to take on unpaid work. That’s where the Yes We Must Coalition (YWMC) comes in.

The YWMC is composed of nonprofit, private colleges and universities where at least 50% of undergraduates depend on Pell Grants to fund their education. As such, its institutions are committed to expanding access to postsecondary education and improving college graduation rates for learners from low-income backgrounds. There is evidence from the community college sector that guided pathways and supports for career-readiness keep more students on track to graduate and secure good-paying jobs. Now, with the help of a grant from Ascendium, YWMC will test whether four-year programs at private colleges and universities can successfully apply these strategies focused on career preparation and pathways to improve retention for students from low-income backgrounds.

Specifically, the three-year, $2.5 million grant will support the YWMC in helping nine member institutions redesign one or two academic programs of study to strengthen connections for learners to jobs in those fields. The schools will begin by selecting programs with low retention rates for revision. The participating institutions are as follows.

  • American International College (MA)
  • Benedict College (SC)
  • Calumet College of St. Joseph (IN)
  • Mars Hill University (NC)
  • Mercy College (NY)
  • Saint Elizabeth University (NJ)
  • Trocaire College (NY)
  • Union College (KY)
  • Villa Maria College (NY)

The interventions introduced by this initiative have the potential for far-reaching implications. Specifically, they would help shift focus towards ways colleges that have a mission of a broad liberal arts education can still connect learners to jobs.

“This initiative from the Yes We Must Coalition will explore how four-year institutions can embrace strategies to connect their students to careers without compromising on their liberal arts mission,” says Keith Witham, Ascendium’s vice president of education philanthropy. This is one of several recent Ascendium grants, including ones to the Council of Independent Colleges and the Institute for Evidence-Based Change, that are focused on helping colleges build stronger supports for students to transition from college to career.

Ascendium Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color and veterans. Ascendium's work identifies, validates and expands best practices to promote large-scale change at the institutional, system and state levels, with the intention of elevating opportunity for all. For more information, visit https://www.ascendiumphilanthropy.org.

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