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.
We help strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
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Strada Education Foundation supports programs, policies, and organizations that strengthen connections between postsecondary education and opportunity in the U.S., with a focus on helping people who face the greatest challenges. We advance this mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, and Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, including CAEL, Education at Work, InsideTrack, and Roadtrip Nation.
In short, we help strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
Our North Star, adopted unanimously by our Board of Trustees in 2022, is to collaborate with learners, educators, employers, and policymakers across the U.S. to bring to life a postsecondary education and training ecosystem that provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We embrace the multiple important purposes of postsecondary education, including strengthening communication and critical thinking skills, preparing individuals for responsible citizenship, expanding intellectual interests, and helping people to navigate an increasingly diverse and global society.
We recognize that preparation for meaningful work is just one of the multiple purposes of higher education, yet it is also one of the most important reasons individuals cite for pursuing some form of education after high school. Without the opportunity for meaningful work and economic security, other benefits of education are unlikely to be fully realized.
Headquartered in Indianapolis since our predecessor organization, USA Funds, was first established in 1960 to expand access to higher education in the U.S., Strada has focused on strengthening the link between education and opportunity (i.e., success beyond completion of a degree or other postsecondary credential) for the last decade.
Several principles guide our work. We prioritize efforts that benefit individuals pursuing postsecondary education or training in the U.S. We place a primary focus on helping people who have faced the greatest challenges accessing postsecondary education and/or economic opportunity (e.g., low-income individuals, people of color, first-generation students). We focus most of our efforts on ecosystem-scale changes that can benefit large numbers of individuals, with a secondary focus on direct impact efforts. We are sector agnostic, working with both traditional higher education institutions and quality alternative providers. Finally, we work to cultivate public policy solutions with the potential for bipartisan support.
As we look toward the future, we will continue to collaborate with students, educators, employers, policymakers, and other partners to help create more equitable pathways to prosperity in the U.S.
At Strada, we work with our partners — students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. — to ensure learning after high school provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We build relationships with educational institutions, workforce development organizations, employers, innovative startups, membership associations, and other funders.
Our team includes experts in higher education, philanthropy, research, workforce development, economic development, public policy, and impact investing. We work together to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
Strada Education Foundation announced Justin Draeger will join Strada as senior vice president, affordability.
The State Opportunity Index was developed to help states build a stronger connection between education after high school and equitable pathways to opportunity so students realize the full value of their education and employers have the workforce they need to fill high-demand jobs.
Mamie Voight, president and CEO of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, on how states can use State Opportunity Index data to identify what is working within higher education and what needs to improve.
Michael Collins, vice president of the Center for Racial Economic Equity at Jobs for the Future, on how the State Opportunity Index tells a more nuanced story of the data surrounding the value of education after high school.
Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president of The Education Trust, on how the State Opportunity Index helps measure whether policies and practices are actually benefiting the students they were designed to support.
‘Colleges and universities, states, and our country can do more to help prepare students for the critical transition from college to the labor market.’
New research highlights what states and institutions can do to help more graduates secure college-level jobs.
The gift of time. A recognition of talent. A helping hand. How our mentors helped shape us as people and professionals.
Strada Education Foundation Appoints Heather McKay to Direct Institute for the Future of Work
At the heart of MiraCosta College’s Increase Diversity, Equity, and Advancement in Biotechnology (IDEA-BTEC) program, funded in part by a $400,000 grant from Strada Education Foundation, is a unique partnership between the college and two local biotech employers: Sterogene Bio-Separations and Open Biopharma Research and Training Institute.
The community college learning lab and dental clinic is now a newly refurbished space where dental hygiene students refine their technique on mannequins outfitted with realistic incisors, molars, and cuspids. The clinic was remodeled through a partnership with Delta Dental of Rhode Island and supported by a $400,000 grant from Strada Education Foundation.
The letter was delivered in response to the department’s request for information regarding the disclosure of confidential wage records under the department’s regulations governing the confidentiality and disclosure of state unemployment compensation data. Strada also included specific recommendations for regulatory amendments.
Report indicates both success and need for improvement in meeting students’ varied goals
Veteran education policy advocate brings extensive federal experience to shape policy solutions that strengthen pathways to opportunity
A new and improved Free Application for Federal Student Aid expected late this year should provide opportunities for more students and their families to access money to pay for college. Yet the transition to this new form presents unprecedented challenges for those who work to help students complete it.
To better understand the value community colleges provide to individuals and communities, we need to acknowledge the range of needs they serve.