Cradle to Career (C2C) Initiative

Cleveland – Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland-Maggie McGrath; Zanesville – AOP-20 Appalachian Ohio P20 – Barb Hansen & Diane Jones; Dayton – Learn to Earn Dayton – Dr. Tom Lasley; Canton –Stark Education Partnership – Dr. Teresa Purses; Cincinnati – Strive Together – Dr. Byron White; Akron – Summit Education Initiative – Dr. Matt Seevers.

The Advisory Team will provide input and offer suggestions to strengthen the impact of the proposed plan’s activities. The team is a diverse group, from among K-12, higher education, business, and employment services, human resources. Sharing the realities of their settings and employment needs will inform the plan’s activities. Their advice on developing a support system of individuals who would reach out as encouragers and mentors to help them return to their various programs.

To increase enrollment of stopped out students by 3% for ages 19-45 by spring 2021. 

Yes, in the spring of 2019, AOP-20 was awarded a grant of $11,000, which required a partnership with a two-year institution to address the “stopped out” student situation. Zane State President, Dr. Chad Brown, partnered and we worked with C2C through October to examine concerns and brainstorm strategies for identifying and engaging their stopped out students. In 2020-2021, Strive expanded the partnerships to include four-year institutions, and Muskingum University joined the AOP-20 and Zane State College to complete the partnership. The $50,000 grant is to be used to create and implement a data-based outreach plan for identified stopped out students in both institutions. The grant funds covered the cost of data analysis for each school as well as consultation with planning experts to craft the plan. Funding window of time is June 30, 2020 through spring of 2021. There is a chance for a third year of funding to continue the work.

Muskingum University (4 yr.) and Zane State College (2 yr.) are the partner institutions collaborating with AOP-20 to address the “stopped out” situation in southeastern Ohio.

AOP-20, established in 2013, is a collaborative of nine southeastern Ohio counties (two Educational Service Centers). The counties include Guernsey, Monroe, Noble, Washington, Muskingum, Coshocton, Morgan, Perry and Hocking, all of which are federally-designated Appalachian counties. Its mission is to inspire a regional commitment to student success and it is known for quarterly convening a diverse council of K-12, higher education, business, philanthropy, and governance. We are the only sizable collaborative in southeastern Ohio that has become a voice for identifying barriers to student success and seeking ways to respond to them. In 2017 AOP-20 was invited to participate in Ohio’s C2C Initiative. We have participated in their committees and been asked to serve as one of just six C2Cs in the state to develop the C2C plan for increasing student enrollment at all levels.

The six members of Ohio’s C2C are tasked with establishing collaborative planning efforts with partners from both two-year and four-year institutions for the purpose(s) of strategizing a plan to impact/increase student enrollment by addressing stopped out students. They encourage students to return to learning, seek out students who earned CCP credits to encourage their matriculation and, reach out for student retention due to various reasons. The funding source is the StrivePartnership of Cincinnati.

Cradle to Career Organizations are community-based organizations or coalitions focused on making a collective impact. The work of these organizations may be wide ranging from early childhood education (e.g. cradle) to K-12 educational success, to college access and completion, and ultimately workforce entry and successful careers. Ohio’s C2C has six members. The Ohio Attainment goal of preparing a future work force adequately trained at all levels is driving this work.