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Aligning and Strengthening Urban Higher Education Ecosystems is a grant from The Kresge Foundation that funds cross-sector partnerships between colleges, universities, nonprofits, government agencies, school districts, employers, and social service providers to improve postsecondary attainment in urban areas.
The program supports collaboration that removes barriers to college access and completion, particularly for low-income and first-generation students in U.S. cities. Kresge invests in both direct program work and field-building to strengthen the broader urban higher education ecosystem. Eligible applicants include colleges, universities, nonprofits, and government agencies engaged in relevant cross-sector urban education partnerships.
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Aligning and Strengthening Urban Higher Education Ecosystems - Kresge Foundation Our Story at 100 Promoting human progress since 1924, expanding equity and opportunity today Our Staff Our work is made possible by a staff of mission-driven professionals Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Central to how we operate and fund, we center DEI in all we do Careers Check for new openings and learn about working at The Kresge Foundation Board of Trustees Leaders who provide governance, expertise and support to our work Press Room Resources and information for commnunications professional American Cities Effective, inclusive community development in U.S. cities Arts & Culture Positioning culture and creativity as drivers of more just communities Detroit Expanding long-term, equitable opportunity in our hometown Education Addressing postsecondary attainment and closing equity gaps Environment Helping cities with equitable climate resilience strategies Health Building equity-focused systems of health to achieve well-being Human Services Increasing social-economic mobility for people with low incomes Social Investment Practice Unlocking capital for community development Strategic Learning, Research & Evaluation Building a culture of learning across the organization and support community learning priorities Initiatives Our time-bound funding programs can bring multiple Kresge teams together to co-create strategies Grants & Social Investments Grants Awarded A database of grants dating back to 2009 Social Investments Made A database of PRIs, guarantees and other investments How to Apply Details on eligibility, FAQs, Fluxx guidance and more For Current Grantees FAQs for partners, communicating about your work and more Aligning and Strengthening Urban Higher Education Ecosystems When educational institutions and urban systems collaborate to put students’ needs first, more students persist and succeed in college.
Students living with low incomes often attend college in urban areas and can be stymied by nonacademic or off-campus barriers to success. This focus area works to eliminate those barriers. The urban higher education ecosystem, or UHEE, consists of the many interconnected sectors and systems that together impact student outcomes.
These sectors and systems include: higher education, K-12 schools, businesses and employers, government agencies and departments, nonprofit social service providers, housing, food, child care, transit, health care, college access nonprofits, philanthropy and youth development, among others. We embrace a holistic, place-based approach to help strengthen these ecosystems by encouraging cross-sector partnerships.
Well-Functioning Ecosystems We seek to encourage colleges and universities to engage with other institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, school districts and employers to increase the number of students who earn a high-quality degree or credential. To advance this focus area, we support efforts with a systemic approach to strengthening cross-sector higher-education partnerships in cities.
We periodically invite applications for specific efforts through requests for proposals. We focus our work on three special geographic interest areas: The Kresge Foundation has three focus cities: Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans. The Education Program has four focus states: California, Florida, Michigan and Texas.
The Education Program also partners with educational institutions in South Africa. We advance this focus area through grantmaking and, at the same time, learn from our grantees to inform future investments. We are particularly interested in understanding how cities can use collective action to strengthen urban higher ecosystems and the specific strategies used to improve college access and completion.
Q&A: How Jobs For the Future helps states build education‑to‑employment pathways From 114 students to 3.
2M: How a modest philanthropic bet helped spur a statewide engine for student success No student should have to choose between food and their future Detroit students and HBCUs: A pathway to opportunity and economic growth Access Denied: How 40% of Americans are locked out of the private student loan market Study: Program drove significant gains in graduation rates and career outcomes for community college students Detroit Regional Chamber report: 2025 State of Education and Talent
Scoring criteria used to review proposals for this grant.
Based on current listing details, eligibility includes: Colleges, universities, nonprofits, government agencies, school districts, employers, and social service providers engaged in cross-sector partnerships focused on urban higher education. Applicants should confirm final requirements in the official notice before submission.
Current published award information indicates Not specified Always verify allowable costs, matching requirements, and funding caps directly in the sponsor documentation.
The current target date is rolling deadlines or periodic funding windows. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, attachments, and final submission checks.
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Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education & Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) Program is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). This program promotes novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students. It supports projects that bring recent advances in STEM knowledge into undergraduate education, adapt, improve, and incorporate evidence-based practices, and lay the groundwork for institutional improvement in STEM education. Professional development for instructors to ensure adoption of new and effective pedagogical techniques is a potential topic of interest.
The National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program (NLG-L) supports projects that address critical needs of the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance practice and strengthen library and archival services for the American public. Successful proposals will generate results such as new models, tools, research findings, services, practices, and/or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment. Applications to IMLS should both advance knowledge and understanding and ensure that the federal investment made generates benefits to society. Specifically, the goals for this program are to generate projects of far-reaching impact that: • Build the workforce and institutional capacity for managing the national information infrastructure and serving the information and education needs of the public. • Build the capacity of libraries and archives to lead and contribute to efforts that improve community well-being and strengthen civic engagement. • Improve the ability of libraries and archives to provide broad access to and use of information and collections with emphasis on collaboration to avoid duplication and maximize reach. • Strengthen the ability of libraries to provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster. • Strengthen the ability of libraries, archives, and museums to work collaboratively for the benefit of the communities they serve. Throughout its work, IMLS places importance on diversity, equity, and inclusion. This may be reflected in an IMLS-funded project in a wide range of ways, including efforts to serve individuals of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds; individuals with disabilities; individuals with limited functional literacy or information skills; individuals having difficulty using a library or museum; and underserved urban and rural communities, including children from families with incomes below the poverty line. Application Process: The application process for the NLG-L program has two phases; applicants must begin by applying for Phase I. For Phase I, all applicants must submit Preliminary Proposals by the September 20th deadline listed for this Notice of Funding Opportunity. For Phase II, only selected applicants will be invited to submit Full Proposals, and only those Invited Full Proposals will be considered for funding. Invited Full Proposals will be due March 20, 2024. Funding Opportunity Number: NLG-LIBRARIES-FY24. Assistance Listing: 45.312. Funding Instrument: G. Category: AR,HU. Award Amount: $50K – $1M per award.
The California Department of Education (CDE) Early Education Division is making approximately .7 million available to expand California State Preschool Program (CSPP) services statewide, appropriated under the 2021 Budget Act. Eligible applicants are local educational agencies (LEAs), including school districts, county offices of education, community college districts, and direct-funded charter schools—both current CSPP contractors and new applicants. Funding supports full-day/full-year or part-day/part-year preschool services for income-eligible children beginning in FY 2024–25. Awards are allocated by county based on Local Planning Council priority areas and application scores, with redistribution provisions if county allocations are underutilized.