About the Benchmarking Initiative
After a decade in action and with almost 100 partnerships in nearly 20 states, the Next Gen community of practice has both grown and diversified. Over the years, Next Gen partnerships have learned and evolved to tackle challenges with their region's best interests in mind. This work is imperfect and messy but it is driven by continuous improvement and a commitment to collaboration by otherwise siloed initiatives.
Building off Next Gen's toolbox and in partnership with Ascendium Education Group, the Benchmarking Project set out to document the lifecycle of six partnerships across the nation. The Project is not an evaluation; it is an assessment of the common factors that make these partnerships work. These profiles in this compendium identify each region's motivations for launch, mechanisms for change, moments of transformation, measurable results, major ingredients for success, and plans for the future. While the profiles follow the same outline, the stories are quite distinct, demonstrative of unique starting places and varying strengths and weaknesses along the way.
Together these six regions demonstrate that this work is that of constant cultivation and continuous improvement. Without exception, each region demonstrated the critical role of business and industry leading from the center, as well as almost dogged maintenance of coordinated responses and solutions from public and community-based partners.
We’re excited to share our benchmarking framework and profiles with you! Download the full report or sift through the profiles individually below.
Ascendium Education Group generously funded the Next Gen Benchmarking Initiative. Ascendium Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color and veterans. Ascendium's work identifies, validates and expands best practices to promote large-scale change at the institutional, system and state levels, with the intention of elevating opportunity for all. For more information, visit https://www.ascendiumphilanthropy.org.