We’re thrilled to share that America Succeeds has received a grant from Trellis Foundation to expand our work with community colleges, helping more learners access the durable skills they need to thrive in today’s workforce.
This grant builds on the success of our initial Community of Practice (CoP), which brought together 12 colleges across Texas and six other states. Through that effort, we heard directly from faculty, administrators, and industry partners about the urgent challenges and opportunities facing continuing education (CE) programs as they seek to better prepare students with durable skills like communication, critical thinking, and adaptability.
Community colleges are a vital pathway to economic mobility, especially for low-income students and students of color. To deliver on that promise, they need practical, easy-to-use tools that help faculty bring durable skills into classrooms without adding to already tight budgets or schedules. They also need clear, meaningful ways to assess and signal those skills, so that students can confidently translate them for the job market.
Thanks to Trellis Foundation’s support, we will now begin our work to:
- Develop implementation toolkits to help college leaders and faculty champion durable skills adoption.
- Create professional development modules that are short, flexible, and designed with faculty realities in mind.
- Design industry-aligned curriculum content that supports the integration of workplace use-cases into the classroom.
- Pilot new tools, like SchoolJoy’s Nimo AI chatbot, to help students reflect on and articulate their durable skills.
Together with a growing network of colleges, we are designing solutions that meet real needs in the field and put learners first. We’re excited to get this work underway and are incredibly grateful to Trellis Foundation for making this next phase possible.
Stay tuned for updates as we co-design, pilot, and share resources that help colleges embed durable skills into every student’s learning experience.
Want to learn more or get involved? Contact Aidan Schief for all the details.
