A great opportunity for cities competing for the Talent Dividend Prize:
The American Council on Education (ACE) has received funding from the Kresge, Lumina, and other foundations to support the development of an adult learning and attainment agenda. These funds also allow ACE to provide short-term demonstration grants of up to $25,000 to institutions representing different regions and sectors with proven track records in helping diverse groups of adult learners successfully complete postsecondary credentials. The grants will recognize and continue scalable and sustainable practices in areas that impede completion, such as lack of access to advising, navigation tools, or clearly-articulated degree maps.
ACE is currently soliciting Letters of Intent from institutions interested in applying for a demonstration grant. Institutions invited to submit a full proposal will show targeted, integrated and effective approaches in one or more of the areas identified below, as well as demonstrated evidence of creating and implementing innovative and sustainable practices.
- Affordability: Implementing approaches to lowering costs
- Teaching and Learning: Opening up new sources to access education with attention to quality, outcomes and competencies
- Faculty Engagement: Increasing opportunities for professional development and further involvement in the adult learning agenda
- Prior Learning Assessments (PLA): Promoting their greater awareness, acceptance and application
- Advising and Navigation Tools: Creating tools for outreach to credential completion that assist in education and career re-entry, and transition
- External Support Services: Identifying and building community resources through collaborative efforts to boost persistence and retention
- Partnerships: Working across sectors to innovate and advance supportive policy and practices.
The Letter of Intent should be one to two pages in length on the institution's letterhead and provide an abstract of the proposed project, identifying which of the above area(s) the grantee will address. Projects must demonstrate innovative practices, such as articulated credits-to-credentials programs, applications of technologies that positively impact learning and attainment, or new strategies to reach out and attract adult learners back to a postsecondary education. (Note: These are simply examples and not intended to represent the full range of new and creative practices)
The Letter of Intent is due no later than Friday, June 15, 2012. Successful applicants will receive an invitation to submit a full proposal by Friday, June 22 and full proposals will be due Monday, July 16, 2012. ACE will announce the award winners in early August, launching program activities in September that will culminate in March 2013.
Please send Letters of Intent to the attention of Venita Cooper via email at demonstrationgrants@acenet.edu or fax to Dr. Robert Kanoy at (202) 833-5696.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Dr. Kanoy at bkanoy@acenet.edu