FRANKFORT, Ky. ā The Kentucky Student Success Collaborative (KYSSC), an initiative of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), has been awarded a $1.5 million grant fromĀ ECMC Foundation. The three-year grant will support increasing childcare solutions for adult learners and workers with dependents, communications for basic needs resources, creating a national model for a basic needs data dashboard, and building backbone support to drive the basic needs agenda.
“Our Student Success Collaborative is the first in the nation to bring together all sectors to address students holistically,” CPE President Aaron Thompson said. “I am very thankful to ECMC Foundation for recognizing Kentucky’s work and am excited to see how this program will improve student outcomes, especially among those from rural areas or have low incomes.”
Approximately one out of three undergraduate students attending a Kentucky public institution qualifies as having low income, which can often lead to stressors that affect retention and graduation rates. The KYSSC previously released aĀ reportĀ outlining eight recommendations to assist these students with basic needs insecurity, which includes a lack of affordable food, housing and other necessities.
āWe are privileged to fund this ambitious effort to comprehensively support students across Kentucky and believe it will create a model to demonstrate how states can reimagine how they meet studentsā basic needs,ā Jacob Fraire, president of ECMC Foundation, said. āWe look forward to the learnings from this innovative collaboration.ā
Funding for the grant begins in January 2024 and goes through the end of 2026.
