Project Overview
As an outgrowth of its work with four states during the first PASS cohort, Third Sector is continuing to support the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI) by implementing the Postsecondary Grant Redesign, which revamps its financial and wraparound support grants into one joint program aimed at ensuring all students are equipped to succeed in their post-secondary education. Setting up a joint program was a key recommendation coming out of the original PASS cohort work.
Everyone, no matter their age, race, or income, deserves to get the education and career they want. However, with rising costs and limited access to health care, child care, career counseling, and other key support services, many Americans face significant barriers to enrolling in and completing post-secondary education and obtaining a credential.
Research has found that access to wraparound student support services can improve outcomes for students who face more barriers to college than others by meeting their specific needs and removing those barriers. In 2019, Third Sector worked with the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative team to successfully launch the Finish What You Started program, providing social, financial, and career support to adults with some college, no degree – particularly those identifying as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino/a, and Native American – to return to higher education and complete a degree or certificate.
Following this successful launch, COSI wanted to address more equitable ways to administer its financial aid and supportive services grant programs Matching Student Scholarship (MSS), and Community Partnership Program (CPP). COSI did its own analysis and found that students receiving both the scholarship and wraparound support completed school at a higher rate than students who just received one of those things. In order to ensure that all students have the best chance of completion, the team partnered with Third Sector, to combine both the MSS and CPP programs and build out one joint program set to launch in July 2026.
Third Sector’s work with the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI) aims to help close the gap for students looking to further their education and career with the support of structured scholarships and community wraparound support services. Currently, COSI offers two main scholarship programs: the Matching Student Scholarship (MSS), a tuition-based grant, and the Community Partnership Program, a non-financial wraparound support program. The Redesign plan seeks to better align the MSS and CPP Post-Secondary grants to ensure all students are equipped to succeed. Under the Redesign plan, COSI scholars will receive both scholarship and wraparound support to better equip them to thrive.
Third Sector is establishing data-driven continuous improvement processes for COSI to gain more holistic insight into what is moving the needle on outcomes, and for whom. Currently, supporting the foundational activities for the redesign:
- Exploration Phase: Initial Discovery & the COSI Advisory Board voted to combine the grants into one joint program.
- Feedback & Planning Phase: Started in January of 2024, Third Sector is supporting focus groups with previous and current grantees, alongside board members and has also hosted open forums for grantee feedback. Third Sector is currently facilitating discussions with COSI to explore potential funding allocation criteria and to revamp the current funding formulas used to administer the grants in order to maximize the program's ability to help as many diverse students as possible. Activities from this phase included:
- Four stakeholder engagement sessions with potential grantees
- Four stakeholder engagement sessions with the COSI Board
- Weekly workgroup meetings with the COSI team
The complete program redesign is anticipated in 2026 to be built upon the work with Third Sector. Third Sector has begun to and is expected to deliver the following to support the program redesign:
- A landscape assessment of current MSS and CPP grantees;
- A flexible funding model and recommendations for the new Joint Program;
- A finalized RFP for the Joint Program;
- A grading rubric for the RFP process; and
- A draft program guidebook for the joint program.
Post Secondary Opportunity
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supporting Cross-Sector Partnerships to Design Innovative Job Training and Education Programs (LiLAs) | State | IN, MI, TN | Active |
| Third Sector is partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to support cross-sector partnerships in Indiana, Michigan, and Tennessee in designing and developing pilot Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) implementation plans. These pilot programs will provide working people in their states with access to job training and ongoing educational opportunities to grow or build new careers. | |||
| Cuyahoga County National Guard Scholars PFS | County | OH | Closed |
| Third Sector worked with the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) and Cuyahoga County's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to improve enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes for Ohio National Guard Scholarship Program (ONGSP) recipients. Cuyahoga's DHHS, the first county in the nation to launch a PFS project in 2015, led program and contract design efforts with Third Sector and InsideTrack, a leading national organization that supports learners seeking higher education. Together they tailored a coaching and skill-building program for the National Guard that strives to eliminate racial disparities between White students and students of color. The county launched the PFS contract in December 2022. | |||
