Education & Economic Mobility

There is overwhelming evidence that a post-secondary credential significantly improves earning potential. But not enough young people from historically underserved neighborhoods earn them. There are many obstacles. The pathway from K–12 through post-secondary and into the workforce is not aligned. And students do not have equal opportunity to earn college credits and valuable work-based learning experiences in high school. The Joyce Foundation seeks to help underserved K-12 students prepare for college and career success by supporting policies that ensure they have access to high-quality college in high school courses and work-based learning opportunities. We also support policies that ensure K-12, post-secondary and workforce systems are aligned. The Foundation's College and Career Readiness investments will focus on Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota. But we will also fund national and federal efforts.

Goal: Support federal, state and district policies that ensure students of color and students in marginalized communities in the Great Lakes region graduate high school prepared to succeed in college and careers.

Objectives:

• Advance state and district policies in the Great Lakes region to align K-12, post-secondary and workforce systems
• Advance district, state and federal policies to expand high-quality college in high school options for students of color and students from marginalized communities
• Support research, policy development and district-employer partnerships that expand high-quality work-based learning opportunities for students of color and students in marginalized communities

A college education has become ever more essential to getting a stable job with good wages. But decades of success in getting more students of color and students from marginalized communities into college has not translated into more equitable college attainment. Race and family wealth are ever more predictive of who will get a college degree - suggesting that we are moving further away from equalizing college opportunity. Worse still, post-graduate salaries and debt repayment outcomes are deeply inequitable, especially by race. The median Black student owes more on student loans than they borrowed twelve years after enrollment. It appears likely that a subset of colleges, especially in the for-profit sector, are leaving students worse off than if they had avoided higher education altogether. The Foundation supports research, public policy development, and advocacy on how our nation’s higher education system can increase economic mobility and racial equity in the Great Lakes region. Removing barriers to college attainment for students of color and students from marginalized communities is essential to keeping our nation, states, and cities economically competitive.

Goal: Eliminate race- and family income-based gaps in baccalaureate college attainment and post-graduate outcomes through state and federal policy, ensuring fair access to higher education for all students.

Objectives:

• Advance federal and state policies to scale up proven community college student support models
• Advance state and federal policies that preserve access for students of color and rural students to affordable, high-quality public college options and to labor markets that have begun to require college degrees
• Advance state and federal policies and advocacy to achieve racial and family income representativeness at selective public universities
• Support advocacy, litigation, and policy development to narrow gaps in post-graduate financial outcomes (e.g., debt default, loan repayment, wages) for historically underserved students

Over the past two decades, the labor market has changed. It has added low-wage jobs that do not offer economic stability or mobility, and undercut worker dignity. A subset of “gig” jobs employ millions but do not offer basic employment and safety net protections. State and federal policymakers need to take stock of how new technologies are affecting economic stability and mobility for low-wage workers. The Foundation seeks to fund applied policy research on how to improve economic stability and mobility for low-wage workers, including “gig” workers. The Foundation also seeks to support applied policy research and advocacy about how state and federal policymakers can ensure economic mobility, stability, and dignity for low-wage workers.

Goal: Improve economic stability, safety, and dignity for low-wage workers through state and federal policy.