Achieving the Dream Funds Adult Ed Innovations at 20 CCs

A group of education organizations are working together to increase adult participation in credential and degree programs. Using funding from the Lumina Foundation, Achieving the Dream (ATD) has issued grants to 20 community colleges in eight states, to support programs that use "promising strategies" for boosting enrollment, especially among Black, Hispanic and Latinx students aged 25 and over.

ATD leads a network of more than 300 community colleges committed to helping students — particularly low-income students and students of color — achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth and economic opportunity. Lumina Foundation is committed to supporting programs for making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all.

The "Prioritizing Adult Community College Enrollment" (PACCE) initiative will support the colleges over two years, to "scale and institutionalize" their various strategies. Each school will receive a grant worth up to $75,000 as well as technical assistance and program support from several partners. ATD has teamed up with ideas42, rpk GROUP and Equal Measure to work with the institutions.

Eventually, ATD will produce a digital toolkit for the broader higher education community, to share the most promising adult learning practices.

"Community colleges play a vital role within higher education to act as open-access hubs of growth and opportunity for the diverse students they serve," said Karen Stout, president and CEO of ATD, in a statement. "We are excited to support these institutions as they develop strategies to better serve adult learners, a priority that aligns with ATD's deep commitment to building stronger pipelines to and through postsecondary education."

"Helping more adults earn credentials of value starts with having labor-market-aligned programs that adults can enroll in and succeed," added Chauncy Lennon, Lumina's vice president for learning and work. "The colleges receiving grants are prioritizing adults by strategically supporting their participation at scale."

The 20 colleges receiving PACCE grants are:

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Training the Next Generation of Space Cybersecurity Experts

    CT asked Scott Shackelford, Indiana University professor of law and director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance, about the possible emergence of space cybersecurity as a separate field that would support changing practices and foster future space cybersecurity leaders.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • AI microchip, a cybersecurity shield with a lock, a dollar coin, and a laptop with financial graphs connected by dotted lines

    Survey: Generative AI Surpasses Cybersecurity in 2025 Tech Budgets

    Global IT leaders are placing bigger bets on generative artificial intelligence than cybersecurity in 2025, according to new research by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

  • university building surrounded by icons for AI, checklists, and data governance

    Improving AI Governance for Stronger University Compliance and Innovation

    AI can generate valuable insights for higher education institutions and it can be used to enhance the teaching process itself. The caveat is that this can only be achieved when universities adopt a strategic and proactive set of data and process management policies for their use of AI.