Ascendium Education Group: Optimizing Delivery Systems for Higher Education in Prison
Ascendium Education Group’s philanthropy program provides funding to educational providers, researchers, and nonprofit organizations to elevate opportunities and outcomes for learners from low-income backgrounds so they can better achieve postsecondary educational and career success. Grantmaking focuses on increasing equity for low-income populations, especially those in historically underrepresented groups: first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color, and veterans.
Ascendium seeks to support the development or expansion of high quality prison-based, postsecondary education programs that demonstrate the impact of well-designed systems of delivery to:
- Fully support incarcerated learners along a defined educational and re-entry pathway
- Increase the program’s student enrollment capacity\
- Improve student success outcomes (persistence, credential completion, successful transfer of credits, and/or meaningful employment)
This grant initiative consists of two phases: planning and implementation. The first step begins with a letter of intent (LOI) submission. Selected applicants may be invited to submit a full proposal.
Amount: Up to $150,000 for an initial one-year planning phase. After the planning phase and upon submission of a plan and comprehensive budget, funding of up to $800,000 will be awarded to successful planning sites.
Eligibility: Entities administering prison-based, postsecondary programs, including:
- Public/private, nonprofit colleges and universities
- Community and technical colleges
- State/federal prison systems or local jails
- Independent 501(c)(3) organizations
Link: https://www.ascendiumphilanthropy.org/community/where-we-fund
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