KC Scholars Receives $50 Million Grant to Create New Career Training Opportunities for 30,000+ KC Adults
- Written by Newsfile
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation provides three-year grants that cover tuition for short term career training programs for adults.
The new KC Scholars program, Great Jobs KC, aims to provide the opportunity for adults to secure jobs that pay $45,000 to $85,000, in high-demand industries, in under a year.
Kansas City, Missouri--(Newsfile Corp. - December 6, 2022) - Kansas City Scholars, Inc.[1] today announced a new $50 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation[2] to cover tuition for adults who want to enroll in existing career training programs in high-demand, high-paying jobs.
Throughout the next decade, Great Jobs KC will cover the costs to train, credential, and place thousands of people in careers, with a focus on developing a racially diverse workforce.
Great Jobs KC is designed to empower adults 18 years and older to take control of their future by being trained in a high-demand career in 12 months or less. Careers that do not require a college education but are in high demand in the Kansas City area include health care, information technology, construction, and manufacturing.
KC Scholars will pair team members with interested adults to explore career possibilities, help them enroll in an established, approved training program in one of the high-demand areas, and stay by their side through the first year of their employment to support their success. In addition, KC Scholars will work with interested adults to ensure they find support for affordable childcare and reliable transportation, two often-cited barriers to successful completion of education and career training.
KC Scholars knows how to support low- and moderate-income individuals to earn college degrees and have awarded funding to over 6,000 scholars with extraordinary results, including an annual persistence rate of over 90%. The KC Scholars team is utilizing what they have learned over the last six years to reach 32,000 additional adults and help place them on a path to careers with earnings of $45,000 - $85,000 by 2032, with at least 20,000 of those individuals being adults of color from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
"KC Scholars has always believed in lifelong learning, and with this catalytic grant from the Kauffman Foundation, we are excited to expand our offerings to adults who are looking for a career with upward mobility, but who may have lacked the means and support in the past," said Earl Martin Phalen, CEO of KC Scholars. "KC Scholars is cultivating the most reliable and diverse workforce pipeline for traditional and non-traditional students within our region. These efforts will upskill and help improve the workforce, which will better the quality of life and the socioeconomic path of our communities."
"The Kauffman Foundation has long understood that there are multiple pathways beyond high school for people to achieve the success they want and deserve," said Aaron North, Kauffman Foundation's Vice President of Education. "Our grants are designed to support the region with common-sense alternatives in addition to robust support for two-year and four-year degrees. The KC Scholars grant will shape and catapult the region's workforce preparedness for many years to come."
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ABOUT KC SCHOLARS:
Kansas City Scholars (www.kcscholars.org) is a 501(c)(3) college scholarship, college planning and persistence support, and college success program designed to increase the college completion rate for low- and modest- income students and adult learners across the six-county, bi-state service region. KC Scholars launched in September 2016 and, in less than six years, has experienced widespread community engagement and rapid scaling. We now have more than 6,000 Scholars, with over 2,000 scholarship recipients currently in college. KC Scholars has exceeded goals for number of scholarships awarded and college enrollment and persistence rates. Early impact rates are significantly higher than for the region, state, and nation.[3]
ABOUT THE EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that provides access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity - regardless of race, gender, or geography. The Kansas City, Mo.-based foundation uses its grantmaking, research, programs, and initiatives to support the start and growth of new businesses, a more prepared workforce, and stronger communities. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org[4] and connect with us at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn[5] and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn[6].
Press Contact (KC Scholars):
Deekay FoxSenior Marketing and Communications DirectorKC Scholars661-378-2353dfox@kcscholars.org[7]
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/146899[8]
References
- ^ Kansas City Scholars, Inc. (kcscholars.org)
- ^ Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org)
- ^ www.kcscholars.org (kcscholars.org)
- ^ www.kauffman.org (www.kauffman.org)
- ^ www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn (www.twitter.com)
- ^ www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn (www.facebook.com)
- ^ dfox@kcscholars.org (www.newsfilecorp.com)
- ^ https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/146899 (www.newsfilecorp.com)