NC State Takes Lead on Gates Foundation Grant

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and MDC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding opportunity and reducing poverty, selected Raleigh has as one of four cities to participate in the Partners for Postsecondary Success initiative. The goal of the Gates-funded national effort is to improve postsecondary completion rates among low-income young adults.

NC State, which was awarded the grant on behalf of the community partnership, is the lead organization of the Raleigh Colleges and Community Collaborative and will coordinate and administer the project.

Led by MDC, Partners for Postsecondary Success is a three-year demonstration project to work with community partnerships focused on increasing the number of low-income young adults who earn a postsecondary certificate or degree and go on to get jobs that pay a living wage.

Raleigh is one of four community partnerships in Texas and North Carolina—two in each state—that will receive coaching and funding to examine the  status of low-income young adults in their communities and identify data-driven strategies to improve postsecondary and employment outcomes. The project ‘s goal is to help communities improve the performance of their postsecondary institutions, deepen collaboration between education and industry to forge student pathways to good jobs, and align and leverage resources to sustain the partnership effort beyond the demonstration period.

The four selected sites are receiving Gates Foundation planning grants for seven months to develop a specific plan to improve postsecondary and employment outcomes for low-income young adults. Sites that successfully complete the planning phase and submit an implementation proposal will be considered for up to $1.5 million in additional Gates Foundation funding over approximately two years to launch their local community initiatives.