Strada collaborates with students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
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We prioritize policies, practices, and programs that help ensure postsecondary education provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We advance our mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, and strategic initiatives.
Strada Education Foundation
As Strada's vice president of Philanthropy, Pat Roe is responsible for assessing the landscape for grant-making in support of employer engagement and workforce development initiatives related to student success and support.
Roe’s portfolio encompasses working with institution innovation teams and postsecondary-focused community-based organizations to ensure wrap-around services, ( i.e. coaching, mentoring, networking, internships, and scholarships) help students successfully transitioning into career fields.
Roe has spent more than three decades in philanthropy, focusing on postsecondary student success.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.
Strada partners at the Community Education Coalition in Southeast Indiana are engaging with educators, employers, policymakers and community organizations to improve postsecondary education and build a talent pool that will serve area businesses for decades to come.
Strada cast the net wide in 2019 to identify and support seven new partners who are creating opportunities for learners across the country to move seamlessly between education and meaningful careers.
When Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi really listened to employers, it discovered a painful truth: While its mechanical engineering students had the technical skills needed to get hired, they lacked the communication skills to work successfully with non-engineer colleagues. They could get a first job, yet were challenged in being retained. Even those who were retained found it difficult to advance in their careers.
At Strada Education Network®, we’re interested in supporting all students on their education-to-career journey and we are fortunate to have great partners in this work – partners who understand the value of engaging with students wherever they are on that journey and supporting their success.
Strada Education Network has awarded grants to five institutions whose aims align with Strada’s mission of “Completion With a Purpose.” These institutions focus on boosting underserved and underprepared students in their pursuit of a good education and their desired career path.
At a recent UNCF Indianapolis reception to launch its annual fundraising campaign, it was a Strada Education NetworkSM-supported UNCF scholarship recipient whose inspirational story set the tone for the campaign for the more than 125 supporters of the local organization in attendance.
In the mid-’70s, Indianapolis community leaders cited a number of reasons why African-American youth were failing to graduate from high school, not entering college, and falling short in career achievement. The Center for Leadership Development (CLD) answered the call to develop meaningful experiences to promote education and careers to students and their parents.
Mentoring helps students and professionals establish and navigate the education and career pathways that are so critical in college Completion With a Purpose®. So it’s no surprise that mentoring is a key component of several initiatives that USA Funds® supports.