Kresge Foundation Announces New Education Grantmaking Strategy

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Kresge Foundation in Troy, Michigan, has announced a new education grantmaking strategy designed to increase the number of low-income and underserved individuals earning two- or four-year college degrees.

The three-part effort will focus on supporting pathways to and through college, building the capacity of postsecondary institutions, and promoting systems and technology that increase productivity and foster innovation in higher education.

To that end, the Pathways for Students initiative will support national, regional, and state- or consortium-based efforts that assist large numbers of low-income, first-generation African-American, Latino, and Native-American students entering and graduating from community colleges and four-year institutions. Through the Strengthening Institutions initiative, the foundation will work to build the capacity of community colleges and minority-serving and special-mission institutions — historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Title III and Title V institutions — with a primary mission to educate low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation college students. And through the Higher Education Productivity initiative, the foundation will fund networks and systems that operate at the cutting edge of academic and/or administrative productivity, employing new and proven uses of technology for educating students and creating back-office cost savings and efficiencies.

“Kresge Foundation Announces New Grantmaking Strategy to Increase the Number of College Graduates in the U.S..” Kresge Foundation Press Release 9/17/10.