All In: Student Pathways Forward
This podcast focuses on elevating community college student voices to shape inclusive higher education and workforce development policies, practice and partnerships that create economic mobility.
All In: Student Pathways Forward
Part II Portland Community College (PCC) & Lumina Foundation - PCC Student Shalease Williams and President Mark Mitsui; Lumina Foundation Strategy Director Kermit Kaleba
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This is part II of this All In: Student Pathways Forward episode that includes the second half of an interview by host Marc Goldberg with Portland Community College (PCC) President Mark Mitsui and then a conversation with Kermit Kaleba, the Strategy Director for Employer Aligned Credential Programs at Lumina Foundation.
Both President Mitsui and Kermit share reflections on the featured interview in part I with PCC Career Pathways student Shalease Williams. President Mitsui speaks further on the systemic barriers students face and how the statewide Pathways to Opportunity Initiative is helping Oregon community college students maximize benefits and resources, especially students experiencing basic needs insecurity.
Kermit discusses the Lumina Foundation’s commitment to racial equity and how the Foundation is investing in various state and college projects that support adult students in earning quality stackable credentials leading to good jobs. He highlights great work in Oregon with the STEP (SNAP Employment and Training) grant in which Shalease and many other students have accessed while taking coursework at the community college.
The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.
Welcome to the All-in Student Pathways Board podcast focused on elevating student voices from Oregon Community Colleges to take inclusive policies, practice, and partnerships. This is the host, Mark Goldberg, and it's an honor to speak with students across our state who share their free college experiences of fertility and practical solutions to make colleges more students better, and hear from college leaders and policy makers listening in and reacting to the students' recommendations, building on their solutions and healthcare. In this second, I finished my conversation with DCC President Mark B2, and then have a great discussion with Kermit Khalifa from the Lumina Foundation about the organization's commitment to racial equity and how they are investing in various state and college projects that support adult students to earn quality, stackable credentials, increasing college completion, and access to good jobs. I'd recommend listening to part one first if you haven't yet had the chance, and then pick this up. Thanks for listening in.
SPEAKER_02You know, the other thing that came to mind Shalise was talking was we need both food pantries and food policy. We do need the direct service components. And we know from the education trust that for every meal a food bank provides, SNAP provides 12 because the distribution system is there and so forth. And so students need help in the media with emergency grants of food pantries. And there has to be ongoing support for students to be able to make it through to the degree that will definitely make a difference long term in their life and earning potential. And so DHS has been a great partner in helping us to help our students to access benefits remotely.
SPEAKER_01And just to clarify for folks who may be outside of Oregon, DHS being the Oregon Department of Human Services. Right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Right. Shout out to Dan Hahn of Self-Sufficiency of the Oregon Department of Human Services and the whole self-sufficiency unit, the whole uh SNAP and STEP administration here in Oregon have been amazing partners. They've been fantastic and have really worked to domystify all of this. So they know that achieving escape velocity out of poverty, the pathway often runs through education and training. And the skill requirements for living wage jobs continue to increase and become more integrated as well as complex. And that takes constant training and additional education. So it's a lifelong process. And again, that model of stackable credentials and cycling in, cycling out, not having to start over, but being able to continually build. That's also fitting the training and continuing education requirements of the modern workscape where things are moving and changing rapidly. You know, you mentioned DHS, they've been amazing partners, and the Career Pathways has helped to evolve the concept of benefits integration and the importance of that. And so we were able to promote a proposal to the Oregon President's Council, the Oregon Community College Association, to get pilot funding for something called Pathways to Opportunity. We call it PTO. PTO is the development of a community practice and the development of strategic partnerships like with DHS to integrate public benefits and private supports like scholarships around students at the community colleges so that their unmet financial needs can be met and they can work less, study more, and graduate. That led to House Bill 2835. House Bill 2835 was jointly advocated for on a national level. We were assisted by the National Skills Coalition and Skills Ban. And all of the great work that they helped to form a consortia of advocates here in Oregon that included partners for Onga Free Oregon, the Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Student Association, certainly the Oregon community colleges were involved. After concentrated efforts, HB 2835 was passed. And as a result of that, there now is a benefits navigator in every community college and every university campus in Oregon. And so if there's somebody at each college now who gets it, who will help institutions to provide access to the benefits to help staff to understand what's the benefits landscape, how are they integrated, what's the access process, what's the application process? It's a great start.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I am glad you mentioned all of those partners, both at the national level, like National Skills Coalition, as well as Oregon Department of Human Services, anti-poverty organizations like Partners for Hunger Free Oregon, the Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Student Association. And having been a part of the Pathways to Opportunity team, really your vision, President Mitsuyan leadership to get this built across the state. And I have the pleasure of helping stand it up in my previous role at PCC and co-leading that network. Those partnerships have been so key, not just in the collaborative work and supporting students, but as you talked about, to get a bill passed in this past session with funding attached was no easy feat. And to have these complementary organizations, national, NSC, and then all these state organizations and local community-based organizations as well, all advocating together, made it happen. So appreciate your summary there of PTO, both in practice and in policy, and then along with those key partnerships. And one thing I wanted to ask related to pathways to opportunity, then is how does that initiative, as you've described it, how do you see it as a racial equity strategy? And then more generally, how does it align with your priorities for the college focused on equitable student success?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, the good questions. Well, there's a long historical intersection between racism and poverty. And when we look at, for example, housing discrimination in the Portland region historically. Well, if you can't get a loan to buy a house, or you're not allowed to purchase a home in a neighborhood that has a higher home value, that was called redlining, then you don't have the same level of family wealth to pass on across generations. And so there are intergenerational effects of historic racism. I was born in the Asian American part of Seattle called Beacon Hill. And I can remember when mom and dad tried to find a house to buy outside of Beacon Hill, nobody would sell to them. The realtors wouldn't show them. They come back really angry and frustrated. And you couldn't get a loan from the bank if you were going to buy in a white neighborhood. And so it then impacts what kind of family wealth you can generate and your access to credit and so forth. And it's not just housing discrimination, job discrimination, right, across generations. The cumulative historical effect of that exclusion from living wage jobs and career paths and home ownership add up over time and culminate in higher rates of poverty. We know there are zip codes where your health, longevity, family wealth are much lower. So access to benefits while going to college, there was a historic split in the 90s where it became very difficult for those who really needed benefits to access those benefits. And there became this narrative of demonizing the poor. And there's this vestigial remnant of that when we know students who don't want to apply for benefits. I mean, that tells you how powerful that narrative has become, right? And so being cognizant of that and being able to reopen access to those benefits, particularly while students are going to school. And here's the other stereotype, right? That some policymakers, I think, project maybe their own college experience onto modern college students. And there's this stereotype that you know, raw men is a rite of passage. Eating raw men or not having enough to eat in college is a phase on your way to upward mobility. For so many of our students, it's a life circumstance. I mean, this is not a rite of passage. This is the day-to-day. There are a lot of myths that have to be exploded. I want to give a shout out also to Sarah Goldberg-Grab and the Hope Center because they have done amazing work. Sarah's done amazing work in making what's been invisible visible. And really hammering home the point that the majority of our college students experience basic needs and security. And it's a major barrier to a better life.
SPEAKER_01Just touching on the Hope Center with Dr. Goldrick Rabb's research across Oregon. We know it's 63% of students, and this is pre-pandemic, were facing some form of basic needs insecurity within the past year. And that would include food insecurity, housing insecurity, or students experiencing houselessness. That's the reality that our community college students are facing. And if we don't address those basic needs, it makes it so much more challenging for students to focus on their studies. And we were fortunate through the pathways to opportunity community of practice, as you described, to bring Dr. Goldrich Rabb to one of our summits when we were still face to face to share her research and also what she's heard and seen across the country with more of that research and also the policies that are needed to address basic needs and security in ways that are comprehensive and holistic.
SPEAKER_02That's right. That's right. Yeah. Greatly appreciated. Made a huge difference. More and more policymakers are paying attention to this. More and more policies are being developed, therefore, that address this issue. There's greater awareness and willingness to tackle the issue. No, post secondary education is the pathway to greater and more equitable economic prosperity for all. Everybody needs to have access to it then. If folks have basic needs and security heading into college, then it's a huge barrier for completion. And students sometimes blame themselves. And it's like, no, this is a system. These are systems.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and multiple systems that have been created and designed that have benefited certain populations and made it detrimental to other populations.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. For generations, you know, it's like, no, it's not you. Okay. These benefits, you probably paid into them already. Your family probably had you earned these. And this is what successful students do, right? It's an important part of a success strategy to access these. And so there's been a lot of progress, and there's still a lot of work to be done. I would love to wave a magic wand someday. A lot of the benefits eligibility data, it's already in the IRS database. But we make people fill out eight applications three times to access what they're already eligible for.
SPEAKER_01Right. Across multiple institutions in different locations. And maybe that's been simplified in a small way during COVID with access remotely, but still there are multiple bureaucracies that students are navigating just to access those benefits. So I think that points back to the value and importance of a navigator and a small win for Oregon with House Bill 2835. But I also want to take what you said in a related direction. I mean, as you were just talking about it's not students' fault, it's the system's fault. And for me, another big reflection for my own learning with our pathways to opportunity work collectively and past summits was when you were able to help bring the former Secretary of Education in the Obama administration, John King Jr., to one of our summits. And he joined us from the East Coast. And the only way he was willing to travel was if he could facilitate a panel discussion of students, to really hear from students. And what I took away from that and his overall message was the value and importance of listening closely and carefully to your students. And that was actually the impetus for this podcast, it was another means of hearing from students across our state. And know that colleges, including Portland Community College, do a lot and have different strategies to center student voices. But I wanted to ask you if there are ways that PCC is elevating student voices, particularly adult students, again, like Shalise, that helps shape policies and programs leading to equitable student success?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a great question. I'm always inspired by John King and his genuine and authentic interest in hearing student voices. When he was a secretary, he would invite students in to the US Department of Education and hold listening sessions with students on a variety of different issues. And he's a former teacher principal. And well, I guess you're never really a former teacher. And so he's carried all of those values into his current work. Yeah, when we talk about student input, there's a couple different levels, right? There's the institutional level, and so when we're serving 60,000 students a year, we have been instituting pulse surveys. The pulse surveys go out on at different times, but they go to all students. We try to keep them short because we know, again, time's a resource and they're on different topics. It's been really, really, I think, impactful. We also have a student trustee, and so at the policy level, there's a student at each board meeting. While one person cannot possibly represent the perspective of all students, there at least is one student perspective on the policy meeting for college. There's also the opportunity to pop in on different classes, which I've been having to do virtually since the pandemic. It's non-scientific, but it has always helped me to reflect more about key decisions, strategic direction for the college, by helping me to stay grounded, or at least more grounded than I might be otherwise by hearing student voices. And then student forums, of course, uh, but we've not been able to do as much of that. You know, one thing on a policy level, we also have a legislative intern program that students apply for and then are hired to work as legislative interns in state legislators' offices. It's a great experience for students, and then the legislators hear a student perspective.
SPEAKER_01All the time when they're in their offices as an intern, that's such a great program.
SPEAKER_02And finding that way to garner the student voice, I think, is really important. You really, I think, hit on a key question.
SPEAKER_01And all the examples you've provided, President Mitsui of the student voice, I think, for the president of the largest higher education institution in the state of Oregon, joining classes informally face-to-face, or now more recently remote, and for students to have the opportunity to share openly and honestly with the president, I'm sure means a lot. And for students to hear that the president is interested in hearing from them, listening to them is powerful. So glad that you're able to find ways to do that, even during the pandemic. So appreciate all of what you've shared on the ways that the college is elevating student voices. And just wanted to wrap up and ask if there's anything else that you'd like to share.
SPEAKER_02Well, I just want to share encouragement for all the folks out there doing this work and appreciation for what you're doing. It's often behind the scenes. It deals with what you might consider administrative in terms of administrative rules, requirements for benefits and application forms, but it's also vitally important and can make a difference. Accessing or not accessing supports definitely can make a difference between a student being able to access and complete their college education or not. And that journey certainly has a huge impact on somebody's life. So thank you to everybody out there who's doing this work. It's greatly appreciated.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a great way to wrap up here. And just wanted to thank you, President Mitsui, for taking the time to have this conversation for this podcast and also for your ongoing vision and leadership for the Pathways to Opportunity Initiative, which has been transformational. And as you mentioned earlier, there's still a lot of work to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Definitely. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01I'd like to welcome my next guest to the podcast today, Kermit Khaliba from the Lumina Foundation. Kermit is the strategy director for employer aligned credential programs at the Lumina Foundation. Welcome, Kermit, to the All-In Student Pathways Forward podcast.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Mark. Really excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, as we get started, I thought it would be helpful to ask you if you could provide a brief overview of Lumina Foundation for any listeners who may not be familiar with the organization.
SPEAKER_03Sure, absolutely. So Lumina Foundation is a private not-for-profit foundation based in the Midwest. We're actually headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. We're the largest foundation focused exclusively on expanding access to higher education and workforce training. We're probably best known nationally for our vision for getting 60% of US adults to some form of post-secondary degree or high quality credential by the year 2025. We're particularly focused as a foundation on making sure that we're expanding opportunities for adults, and in particular within that cohort, adults of color. So when I say adults of color, black, Latino, Hispanic, and Native American adult learners. And the reason we do that is because we know that as we look at the data, learners of color, their access and attainment to education lies behind that of white learners. So roughly half of white adults between the ages of 25 and 64 have a post-secondary credential of some kind. Less than a third of Black, Latino, and Native American learners do. And so we know that we won't be able to achieve our goal as a foundation and our goal for this nation if we aren't laser-targeted on equity and strategies that help adult learners of color get the credentials and the skills they need to be successful. Our current strategic plan calls for intentional efforts to help get to about 7 million adults getting credentials above the current trajectory, what we would expect if we didn't do anything. And we're particularly focused in this strategic plan on sub-baccalaureate credentials. So we've set targets for ourselves of trying to help support about 3 million adults get access to associates' degrees, 2.6 million adults get access to sub-associate certificates and credentials over the course of the next five years, so that we can help achieve the goal and make sure that adult learners are getting access to opportunity. The reason I mentioned that is that in turn has meant that we've had a really significant focus in recent years on community colleges. Community colleges, we know, are disproportionately the school of choice for adult learners, particularly for adult learners of color. So if we want to increase overall attainment of post secondary credentials in this country, we know that that's where we need to be working.
SPEAKER_01So that's really helpful. And it's great context for the work that Lumina Foundation is focused on. And I didn't realize it's the largest foundation exclusive. Focused on higher education and workforce. And I've been familiar, as many folks have, of the 60% goal by 2025, but appreciate you zeroing in on the priority populations and adults of color and those disparities that have existed and only been perpetuated during the pandemic and subsequent recession. So glad that that's where Lumina's focus is. And we're fortunate in Oregon to have had a strong career pathways, stackable credential initiative for many years. So feel like those high-quality certificates are important and aligned with the work that Lumina is focused on. And we've had the privilege of working with Lumina in different capacities through the years. I did want to come back to that large goal and the 60% of Americans, 25 to 64 adults, attaining a high quality post-secondary credential by 2025. And as Lumina Foundation has been focused on this educational attainment goal and the importance, as you've talked about, of equitably serving adult students in higher education, I wanted to get your reactions to the conversation I had with Portland Community College student Shalise Williams.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. I have to say that I was really, really moved and inspired by Shalise's story. She's a powerful example in my mind of why Luma Foundation is so focused on adult learners and adult students of color. A couple of takeaways. I mean, I think one, obviously on the one hand, she's got such an inspiring and powerful story. Coming back to school later in life, particularly after having challenges earlier in her educational career, working full-time, parenting full-time, setting goals for herself around stackable credentials. I think she really shows what can be possible. And we know that Shalise is not an isolated example, right? We know that average community college student in this country is 28 years old. We know that many of them, maybe as many as a third or more, are parents. We know that many of them are single parents. We know that most community college students are working full-time or part-time. And Shalise is a great example of these are what we think of as today's students, balancing work and life and education to build a future for themselves is a great, great segment. The flip side of that, I think it's also important to acknowledge, that's she was very calm about her description of this, but it's just important to recognize all the barriers that she is facing, even as she was telling that story. We know that historically community college students have tended to be under-resourced relative to more traditional students, particularly in the four-year sector. We know that we have a lot of policies and practices that tend to discriminate against adult students, particularly around enrollment intensity and access to support services, making sure they have access to childcare and transportation, making sure they have access to classes that meet at times when it's appropriate for parents and for working learners. On the one hand, it's a really inspiring story, but one of the things we know is that there are a lot of show visas out there who weren't able to overcome those barriers. It is incumbent upon us at Lumina Foundation and with all of our partners in the states and communities that we work in to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make sure that those folks have meaningful access and opportunity to obtain those economic credentials. I'd be remiss too if I didn't know that she didn't necessarily go into this in too much depth, but I think recognizing that there's the additional barriers that come with being a student of color, the compounding factors stemming from structural racism, disinvestment in K-12, fewer supports like access to high-quality transportation and childcare, barriers to employment and occupational segregation that pushes, particularly women of color, into lower wage jobs and the challenges it must be to raise a family and to go to school at the same time, policies we had that discourage wealth creation for workers and students of color. So that's why we care about adult students. That's why we care about adult students of color. It's why we are laser focused on trying to help the Shalises of the world get to where they want to be.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate your reflections on that interview and just starting out and saying that it's the standard for the majority of community college students who've average age, like you said, 28 adult students who have complicated lives and a lot of different responsibilities. And on top of that, for students of color, the additional systemic barriers and inequities that have existed in overcoming them. No, there's still a lot of work there. I felt like the way Shalise described the support she received from the career coach on the Career Pathways team and helping her connect with various benefits and resources was a starting place and something to build on. Just that ability for colleges, if they can't do it all themselves, to be able to connect students with appropriate resources with community partners is important for adult students. We know the global pandemic and subsequent recession has perpetuated these systemic inequities that have disproportionately impacted communities of color, as well as immigrants, women, workers in low-wage jobs, those with the least formal education. Could you describe more broadly how Lumina Foundation is currently supporting states and colleges in closing opportunity and equity gaps?
SPEAKER_03Our work is specifically aimed at facilitating the success of students who are black, Hispanic, Latino, and Native American. And we recognize that if we want to achieve our objective of a better educated country, we need to put racial equity first, as I mentioned. We know that there's big disparities in access and opportunity. And part of the job that we want to undertake is addressing those disparities. Part of that means we reject the notion of a rising tide lifting all boats. Whatever benefits that may produce, we know that it won't make real progress in addressing racial equity unless we're intentional in addressing racial equity. We know that our board and our staff and those of our partners need to reflect the diversity of the communities that we're seeking to serve if we wish to be effective. So Lumina and its grantees must demonstrate an ability to lead with an equity first approach, which means openly talking about the role of equity and justice in the work and doing what we can to equip people to lead on these conversations. So, what does that mean in practice? So we have an equity first orientation with all of our grants and contracts. So every grant that we make, every grant that I make, we have what's called an equity discussion where we talk about both their internal and external policies and how they relate to racial equity and how they're supporting equity, asking questions about how do you engage with communities of color, how do you engage with students of color, how do you know that your work is going to positively impact black students, Latino students, Hispanic students, Native American students, and how do you make sure that those communities and those students are part of the conversation. Both ask about your staff and your board composition and your internal policies, and how do you make sure that you are equitable in your employment practices and in your approach to the work? We make sure the grants include specific outcomes around whether it's credential attainment or employment or other outcomes, but specifically targeted to adults of color. So that's a commitment that we've made. We have some more targeted grants that we've made specifically around equity. So we have a set of grants called our talent innovation equity grants. Those are targeted grants to states. At this point, I think we've worked with four states: Virginia, Oregon, Colorado, Tennessee, to support state-level policy changes. So that includes making commitments around closing racial equity gaps, setting goals for increased attainment for BIPOC adult learners, and then disaggregating data to be able to identify gaps. We created what's called our Racial Justice Equity Fund. That's a $15 million fund that we launched several years ago to support grants to advocacy organizations and other organizations that are specifically working in states and communities to address structural racism in their communities. But we are very committed to putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to equity and making sure that our dollars are being used first and foremost to achieve better outcomes for my students.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really clear from the way you describe that. And I think that process you described, that equity first orientation, is really interesting to me and feels like a process that colleges and states could replicate and learn from in their own systemic work in racial equity and racial justice. Building on that, I am curious where Lumina and where you see this work going forward as the foundation continues to evolve its approach and sharpen its focus on racial equity and scaling successful strategies to increase educational attainment for adults.
SPEAKER_03So we're currently working in three specific concentration areas, is what we call them. So three problem statements that we're seeking to address through our current budget. So we call them participation, student success, and then the portfolio that I'm leading, the employment aligned credential programs portfolio. So I'll start uh participation speaks to strategies to expand enrollment opportunities for adult learners, particularly for adult students of color. I think one of the things we recognize even before the pandemic had started is that going back to the conversation about Jalise, historically, we do not have a system that is built around adult students and the needs of adult students. We have an education system where the business model really is built around traditional students matriculating around a high school, going directly into post-secondary education, going full-time. If they work, it's generally part-time for pin money. They're not balancing family and full-time work in the same way that we know a lot of what we call today students, adult students at community colleges are experiencing. There's some great work that community colleges have been doing to better align with the needs of adult students, but we also know that there's more work that can be done to make sure that community colleges have the support that they need to be able to reach out to communities of color, particularly student populations that have not always built bridges to, and in many cases that means building partnerships with community-based organizations and other stakeholders that can help bring folks to the community college experience. We know that adult learners are the future of community colleges, but the reality is that not enough community colleges are yet thinking about how adults interact with their system from the outset. And we want to make sure that we're being intentional about what works and what doesn't. The second portfolio or second concentration area is what we call student success, which is focused on promising strategies to help individuals move from their initial credential to an associate's degree. So I think this is where Shalise's story was so great. You know, what she was describing is coming in and getting a workforce credential, and then using that workforce credential as a stepping stone to an associate's degree, and then hopefully going on to get a bachelor's degree so that she can advance up the career ladder. And we know that this is how a lot of adult students in particular are coming to community college. They're not necessarily coming up with the idea that they're going to get to a four-year degree. What they're coming forward is an initial credential, but that doesn't mean they don't have hopes of getting to an associate's degree. They just life sometimes gets in the way. We know there's been a lot of promising work around guided pathways and student supports and culturally relevant interventions to help adults, particularly adult students of color, stay in school. So get that first credential, but stay until they get their associate's degree. So violating the Employment Align Credentials portfolio, which is the work that I lead here at Lumina, we're really focusing on the value of that first credential. So knowing that we've got a lot of adult learners who are coming in specifically because they want a credential, they want a set of skills, they want to be able to get quickly back into the labor market or they want to advance in their career. We want to make sure that that credential, if that's the only chance we get with an adult student, is that one credential, we want to make sure that that credential has value in the labor market. We want to make sure it aligns up with what employers are looking for. There are actually jobs in the labor market. But we also want to make sure that it's designed in such a way that it's not a dead end and that does allow for articulation to a further educational pathway. Because as we saw with this release, right, once you get that first credential, once you've got that success under your belt, maybe there's the opportunities for you to come back and get an associate's degree or even get to a bachelor's degree. And we want to make sure that's possible. So we're making a couple of different investments here. One set of investments focused around state efforts to strengthen access to shorter-term credentials. So a number of states used stimulus funding to create tuition assistance for short-term workforce credentials and community colleges. So I think we're working to figure out how do we strengthen those state programs to make sure that they're focused on quality and make sure they're focused on equity. So it's not just replicating some of the disparities that we've seen in the labor market. And then we have a number of investments that we're making in partnerships between community colleges, industry, and other stakeholders, like the chambers of commerce or workforce boards or others that are geared towards strengthening credential attainment pathways and short-term credentials for belts of color into key industries, including infrastructure, green energy, other sustainable sectors. At least in the community college space, those are the big investments that we're making. Looking ahead, I think we want to build on and refine those investments. I think we're also just to be perfectly candid, watching what's happening on Capitol Hill. We know that we just got an infrastructure bill signed where you've got the possibility of significant new investments in community colleges coming down in the reconciliation bill that congressional Democrats have been working on, including up to six billion dollars in funding specifically for community college and industry partnerships. So one of the things we're going to be looking at is how can we be shaping and influencing those investments to make sure that that potentially transformative investment in community college and industry partnerships not only leads to good quality jobs and good quality credentials, but also begins to tackle racial disparities in some of the key industries like manufacturing and healthcare. So we'll be watching to see if that passes, how we can be a part of those conversations and how we can make sure that we're supporting the leaders in community colleges across the country and taking advantage of those opportunities with a focus on quality and equity.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for that comprehensive summary of all the efforts and the ways that Lumina has organized the work and I think the participation, the student success, and the employer-aligned credentials. There's a ton of work in all of those areas, and glad to learn more about how Lumina is using the resources you have to support states and push on systems. And I think about that quality credentials, you were pointing back to Shalise, and we've seen that with so many students in Oregon where a student comes in, they need to go back to work, they want to get a short-term credential. They may be a first-generation student or they're a returning student or they're a working student, and they get that credential and it's transformative. And many students who come in saying they just want that first six-month certificate persist and they continue on immediately because they have the confidence, they have the skills, and they see the potential for further education with better careers with economic mobility or opportunities for advancement. And some of the students may get that job in their field, and even better when their employer is going to then pay the rest of the way, which doesn't always happen, but it's one scenario. And I think back to where you were talking about the community college and industry partnerships, what I've seen too is you mentioned this earlier, colleges have significant work in our own systems to be student-centered and policies that need to be modified and improved. And at the same time, employers have as much work to do where they have their own systemic inequities if it has to do with recruitment, retention, training, upskilling. And so I think it's a tremendous opportunity for colleges to engage with our industry partners, not just to solidify a path to a job, but to really center on quality jobs and partner with employers to help shape what that could look like and remove some of those systemic barriers from the employment side.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, to a good degree more. I mean, I think we know that a commitment to diversity and equity internally is actually a really good indicator of stronger business practices. All the data that we've ever seen indicates that being more committed to diversity and equity in your business practices will lead to better bottom line outcomes. We are investing in a number of partnerships and strategies across the country where it is about creating this dialogue between community colleges, employer partners, other stakeholders in some cases, who are talking about, being very intentional about looking at what are the pathways into your industry, who's using those pathways. Can you be thinking about other pathways, particularly as we know the workforce is going to be changing dramatically over the course of the next generation? You can't be thinking short term, you have to be thinking long term. And if you're thinking long term, you need to be thinking about how you're going to be strengthening and diversifying your workforce. So I think you're absolutely right. There's a moment in time here where we can move past some of the outdated, lazy, and sometimes honestly racist practices that employers have had when it comes to hiring and advancement, and start to think about what are new ways of doing business that create meaningful opportunities within the community, create meaning opportunities for workers, but also create business opportunities for employer partners.
SPEAKER_01So absolutely. So going from the national level and zeroing in on our part of the country here in the Pacific Northwest, knowing you and Lumina have depth and breadth across the country of what states are doing, what colleges are doing, and having the national landscape of those state efforts, I wanted to ask you what you see that Oregon has done well to close opportunity gaps and improve equitable college completion.
SPEAKER_03You ask a great question. I'm gonna answer this a little bit indirectly and highlight one example of something great that Oregon has been a leader on, and that's the STEP program, the SNAP training and employment program. It's a federal program run out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where every state has to offer an employment and training program as part of their overall SNAP program in a state. And SNAP, of course, is what we used to call food stamps, so supplemental nutrition assistance program. Oregon was one of the leading states in thinking about how to leverage those dollars to create new career pathways opportunities for SNAP recipients. So one of the things that Oregon has done that's really amazing is they've managed to get what are called SNAP third-party partnerships, where they're actually drawing down federal dollars to support the creation and expansion of career pathways programs for SNAP recipients who are in community college programs. I think you were mentioning, Mark, that your lease was, in fact, someone who benefited from this initiative at Portland Community College. What's incredible about this is it's a way for community colleges to draw down federal resources to really provide a wide range of supports, not just the educational components of a program, but also support services like transportation and childcare and other things. What's unique about Oregon is that you have actually expanded this to every community college in the state, working with the Department of Human Services there in Oregon. I will say that's always been a touchstone for me. What's possible if you get well-intentioned people at a community college system and a human service agency working together towards a common goal and making sure that thousands of folks who find themselves on SNAP food benefits are able to access this ladder of opportunity. In fact, I'm actually stealing some of that. I've got a grant that I made to a national partner, the National Skills Coalition, where they're going to be working to expand that Oregon step model in three other states. So the idea would be that they'll be working to make sure that all the community colleges in those states are offering Snap BNT programs and are drawing down Snap BNT resources to help support low-income adults, particularly adults of color, and getting to high-quality certificates and degrees. But in general, I think Oregon has done great work about being very ambitious, both in setting overall attainment goals, but also in really looking at what are the racial disparities that we see in educational attainment and what are the strategies that we can be taking to address those gaps. I know that's one reason why Lumina chose Oregon as one of the initial high grants, the talent innovation and equity grants back in 2018. And partly it was because of the commitment that Oregon had made to addressing racial disparities in higher education.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's great to hear and glad you talked about the STEP grant and having been involved in that since we launched it. It's been remarkable to see how all of the colleges have engaged and seen the value and benefit to their students. But at the same time, from the human service agency side, I've had the chance to hear leaders at the Oregon Department of Human Services say, from an equity lens, to know that all 17 colleges, wherever their customers, clients, participants are across the state of Oregon, they can access the same grant and benefit. It's powerful to them. So it means that it's accessible to the entire population, regardless of geography, rural, urban, suburban, and also I think their commitment to racial equity, recognizing those disparities and creating access and being intentional there. So I just want to come back to the student level. And this podcast was created as a strategy for us to really center our student voices and be able to not just hear students' journeys, but listen to their recommendations because they're navigating through our systems, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and get at what's working for them and what policies could be improved to help them achieve their educational goals. And so I wanted to ask: what are some ways that Lumina Foundation has been able to elevate student voices to also shape inclusive policies, practice, and partnerships?
SPEAKER_03We are currently in the process of launching small projects, specifically looking at the experience of community college students, adult community college students that are enrolling in short term credential programs and asking them what were the reasons why you chose this program, what was appealing about this, what was hard about getting into this program? As we continue to work with community colleges that are offering shorter term credentials and sort. Certificates. We want to be hearing from students about what is the value proposition from their perspective, what are the barriers to entry, what is their experience upon receiving those credentials, and what can we be doing to make sure that we're promoting better practices and policies with community colleges. I mentioned we always talk to any of our grantees about how they're engaging with communities of color and with students of color. I think that's an important part of how we want to approach business is that we want to make sure as we're investing in whether it's individual institutions, whether it's states, whether it's national organizations, we want to make sure that they're listening to the people that they're proposing to serve, that they're actually in dialogue with the communities that they're purporting to serve. And that's a big part of how we make sure that the student voice and the community voice is represented in our work, is by making sure that we're very intentional about this has got to be a part of how you approach the work, whether it's our work, whether it's the work that we're funding. We appreciate so much the opportunity to participate in conversations like this one, where you know we're lifting up student voices and hearing from their experience. I think this podcast is, I think, really great. I went back and listened to a couple of the other episodes that you've done previously. It's really important to hear about why students are pursuing education, how they perceive the value of education, what they see as the barriers. Because a lot of times we don't see what those problems are. If you're not at the ground level, you're not always able to see those challenges. I appreciate that you're making this opportunity available to us to be able to learn from. Again, we always want to make sure that we're centering student voices in our work.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for the feedback on the podcast. And it's nice to hear how Lumina is then communicating with grantees, if that's a state or states or colleges, and articulating that expectation in the commitment to racial equity and commitment to centering students. And to me, just being an adult educator and having worked at colleges for many years, it's harder for our students to share their feedback because of what we've talked about, just their complicated lives. And it's harder for adult students to engage in traditional student government because there's a time commitment there. And that may work better for a younger student who's right out of high school. And so to me, the more we all can find creative ways where adult students can be heard and that they can see that their input is being valued and that colleges, states are responding to that and modifying policies so that they are more designed for adult students. So they're set up for success. Thanks for sharing Lumina's work in this area and commitment to centering students, particularly adult students, with the focus there. Just wanted to wrap up and ask you if there's anything else you'd like to share about Lumina's efforts for this podcast episode.
SPEAKER_03I'll end by acknowledging that we're kind of in this unique moment in time, right? With the pandemic, I think we've learned a lot. There's been a lot of disruptions in the labor markets as workers, including workers of color, have really re-evaluated how they want to be thinking about their participation in the labor market, what they want out of a job, what employers are asking from them out of a job. I think we've seen COVID had a grossly disproportionate impact on workers of color at the outset and continues to do so. We have a lot to learn about that. And of course, colleges, community colleges have been facing some really significant challenges, right? We've seen the incredible scramble to continue to deliver services during the height of the pandemic, which is still an ongoing issue for many institutions. We've seen this somewhat unexpected decline in student enrollments, particularly adult student enrollments at community colleges. That's not something we were expecting going into a recession. What we've always seen historically is an uptick. And so, what does it mean for community colleges moving forward? What does it mean for the labor market moving forward? What are we learning and what are the lessons that we need to apply? I think one of the things that we continue to be optimistic about for what it's worth is even in the face of those challenges, that we continue to see the value of education and training as a pathway to success. And I think Jalisa's story puts a really human face on this reality, which is that there are opportunities out there. And if we can set those opportunities up in a way that makes them accessible for adult students, particularly adult students of color, and we're creating those opportunities and we're being intentional about centering their voices and making sure that they are given access to pathways that line up with their lives, that we really can be transformative. But at least from Luminous perspective, I think we're encouraged that this continues to be the right place for us to be working and the right place for us to be helping. Thinking ahead to the potential additional federal investments that are coming down to community colleges, I think we also have this potentially transformative moment, right? Where we could really truly reframe how we think about workforce development and higher education in a way that adult students, particularly adult students of color, really do have a different set of opportunities than they've ever had before. That we don't have to accept going back to the way things were before the pandemic started, that we could be building an inclusive and equitable economy and higher education and employer partners and others can be a part of that conversation. So I'm personally very optimistic. These past two years have been incredibly hard for millions of Americans. I don't want to minimize that. But I also think we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us. And I think it's incumbent upon all of us who care about these issues, who are working in this space, whether it's at the ground level or at foundations like Lumina, it's incumbent on all of us to do everything we can to make sure that we make the most of these opportunities. So that's all I'd say is thank you for the opportunity to be here and to have this conversation. It's been great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I appreciate your thoughts there, Kermit. And to me, it feels like in any sort of challenging time, it's a moment of innovation. It's a forced innovation for colleges, for states, and it's an opportunity to look at how we do business differently because we have to. And as you touched on the federal resources that are hopefully coming to colleges and these partnerships, it's a tremendous time for colleges to innovate and leverage those resources to do things differently, to focus on, as you mentioned, adult students, because that's where there's a need, where people have been left behind because of these systemic inequities, and also where there's opportunity because we know there's a cliff coming of traditional high school graduates. So that's where there's going to be enrollment opportunity for colleges. And then I think all of the centering in racial equity is you've touched on the priority there at Lumina Foundation with a lot more awareness of these systemic inequities and the work ahead. It's great to see Lumina, again, the largest foundation in this space, walk the talk in terms of your own processes. Really look at the resources you have in putting them in support of these efforts. Thank you, Kermit, for sharing so much for taking the time and also for listening in to Shalise's interview and reflecting back on that and how it relates to the incredible work that Lumina is is driving across the country.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's been a real pleasure, and I thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and look forward to talking again soon.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and if folks are interested in learning more about all these initiatives you touched on, they can find them on Lumina Foundation's website. That's correct. Great. All right. Well, thank you so much, Kermit. Thanks so much, Mark. Great talking. That'll do it for this episode of All In Student Pathways Forward. This is the host, Mark Goldberg. Thanks for listening in, and we will see you the next time.