Taos Education Collaborative selected to join rural higher education, workforce program

Taos Education Collaborative (TEC), a Special Project of Taos Community Foundation, has been chosen by CivicLab as one of five rural partnerships across the U.S. to participate in a two-year initiative to improve higher education and workforce systems. Supported by Ascendium Education Group, Taos Education Collaborative will receive training, technical assistance and direct financial support valued at $150,000 to develop and implement system-level strategies that create pathways to prosperity for low-income learners.

Taos Education Collaborative was selected through a national call for proposals. Each partnership in the cohort includes higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, private-sector partners and other local stakeholders that work together to improve education and workforce outcomes. To be selected, partnerships were required to submit plans that both improve outcomes for their residents and make lasting changes on higher education and workforce systems during the two-year grant period.

“Though many partnerships are deserving of this recognition and support, Taos Education Collaborative demonstrated they had the relationships, capacity and capability to make real change,” said Dakota Pawlicki, director of Talent Hubs at CivicLab.

The TEC was founded in June 2020 as a response to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning and educational access in the small rural town of Taos, and was initially incubated by the i4tl Center for Research and Innovation. The group’s first-year goals focused on connection — both in terms of internet access, which was critical in keeping students, families and adult learners engaged in their education, and in terms of services to support their successful outcomes. Overall, the TEC’s initial efforts kept over 75 Taos families connected to home internet, identified and made public over 100 free community internet access points, and served over 125 students through CTE and Learning Lab programming. By pulling together community partners, the group hopes to build pipelines and pathways that connect increased educational opportunities to higher economic outcomes.

“We have so many great programs happening across our community,” said Elizabeth LeBlanc, founder and project coordinator for the TEC. “But we struggle to connect these resources to one another and to the students and families that need them most. This opportunity comes at the perfect time in TEC’s growth as we move away from short-term solutions due to the pandemic and move into a larger community-wide role as a connector and catalyst for change.”

TEC joins a cohort of other partnerships from across the nation, from California, Florida, Indiana and Texas. This cohort will meet virtually and in-person to share ideas, resources and receive technical assistance.

Taos Education Collaborative is fiscally sponsored and supported by Taos Community Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated to serving the people of Taos and western Colfax counties. Taos Community Foundation connects people, opportunities and resources to build a more creative, caring and thriving community. Said Helen Forte, the Director of Community Impact for the foundation, “We are thrilled to be involved in this work with TEC and CivicLab on an initiative that connects Taos to other rural communities working to improve outcomes and opportunities for residents of all ages.”

“Rural communities have largely been left out of national initiatives designed to improve postsecondary education and workforce outcomes,” said Kirstin Yeado, program officer at Ascendium. “Ascendium is pleased to support this diverse cohort of partners committed to strengthening their collaborative efforts and building the systems necessary to ensure more learners from low-income backgrounds earn degrees and credentials. We anticipate this work generating many lessons learned on how to build the capacity of postsecondary education and workforce training systems within a rural context.”

The initiative launched in February 2022 with Taos Education Collaborative’s guiding team attending a two-day Stakeholder Engagement Process Learning Lab at CivicLab’s headquarters in Columbus, Ind. The team will return in April 2022 for CivicLab’s System Building Lab to improve plans for making lasting change.

“We are a small, but mighty team,” said LeBlanc. “But our students deserve the best we can give them.”

‘Rural communities have largely been left out of national initiatives designed to improve postsecondary education and workforce outcomes. Ascendium is pleased to support this diverse cohort of partners committed to strengthening their collaborative efforts and building the systems necessary to ensure more learners from low-income backgrounds earn degrees and credentials.’

KIRSTIN YEADO

Program officer at Ascendium