Project Overview
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.
Everyone, no matter their race, circumstance, or previous educational background, deserves to have the opportunity to build the career of their dreams that will help them take care of their families. More frequently than ever before in the United States, that requires ongoing training, education, or credentials.
Millions of learners are ready and willing to take on additional training or education or obtain a credential that will help them advance in or start a new career. However, too many of them lack adequate resources to do so and often face significant barriers, like transportation issues or a lack of affordable or accessible child care.
In addition, finding the right resources to help can be difficult. We have built the post-secondary system of education, training/upskilling, and credential obtainment in a different era and designed it around traditional higher education at colleges and universities, where tuition has become an untenable expense for many Americans. To make matters worse, we developed many programs, tools, and resources to help learners pay for continuing education and training that inadvertently created more complexity and confusion than we intended -- all of which exacerbates inequities that prevent people from accessing the resources that will help them to build careers of their dreams that will sustain them and their families.
To address this challenge, a few states and stakeholders have begun exploring developing Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) programs to provide working people with greater access to education and training opportunities to grow, or build new, careers.
In 2024, Third Sector and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation announced the selection of four state cross-sector teams in Indiana, Michigan, and Tennessee into the National Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) cohort where they will design innovative LiLA pilots for their states. Each team comprises a group of cross-sector partners — including government, business, and community-based organizations — who bring their expertise to build a collaborative pilot with the cohort that meets the needs of individuals and other key stakeholders.
Third Sector held a series of workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions to help each state team understand its unique postsecondary funding landscape and the specific needs of its learners. These workshops are foundational to the design and development of the LiLA pilot implementation plans.
By the end of the year, each state team will have a final implementation plan to support their launch of LiLA pilot.
Post Secondary Opportunity
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supporting Colorado to Implement New Program Providing Wraparound Support to Adult Learners | State | CO | Active |
| 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. | |||
| 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. | |||
