2018 Fall 2017 CHARLOTTE- MECKLENBURG COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS ECOSYSTEM Prepared By: University of North Carolina at Charlotte Urban Institute ROI Impact Consulting Prepared For: John M. Belk Endowment Foundation For The Carolinas The John M. Belk Endowment’s vision is a stronger North Carolina where all residents have access to and complete postsecondary educational pathways that help them realize their career goals aligned with North Carolina’s workforce needs. The funding areas are access, completion, and workforce relevance. Foundation For The Carolinas serves a 13-county region providing grantmaking support to individual, nonprofit and corporate fundholders. The Foundation is also home to the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership, which works to convene the community to collectively address critical problems and issues affecting the region. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is a nonpartisan, applied research and community outreach center at UNC Charlotte. Founded in 1969, it provides services including technical assistance and training in operations and data management; public opinion surveys; and research and analysis around economic, environmental, and social issues affecting the Charlotte region. ROI Impact Consulting provides research, organization development, facilitation, strategy development, evaluation, and governance consulting to the public and nonprofit sectors in the Charlotte region. Graphic Design | Laura Simmons, Diane Gavarkavich, Ashley Clark Contents Key Terms 1 Introduction 1 College and Career Readiness Ecosystem 3 Overview 3 Educational Support and Preparation 7 Postsecondary Offerings 22 Career Readiness 29 Possible Trajectories 37 Relevant Institutions and Opportunities 41 Authors & Acknowledgements BASED ON A 2015 REPORT BY Rosalyn Allison-Jacobs Consultant ROI Impact Consulting 2017-18 UPDATE AUTHORED BY Diane Gavarkavich Khalil Salim Director of Research Services Graduate Research Assistant UNC Charlotte Urban Institute UNC Charlotte Urban Institute Laura Simmons Jacqueline Larson Director of Community Indicators Graduate Research Assistant UNC Charlotte Urban Institute UNC Charlotte Urban Institute FUNDING PROVIDED BY Key Terms Service Categories Programs were categorized by the types of services offered. The list below provides brief definitions of the categories used. 2-year degree Employment Support Two-year undergraduate academic degree Services that help people find and keep a job such programs (e.g., Associate's Degree) as assistance with a job search, resume preparation, interview skills, entrepreneurship, and 4-year degree financial literacy Four-year undergraduate academic degree programs (e.g., Bachelor of Arts Degree) High School Equivalency Programs such as GED, HiSET, and Adult High Academic Enrichment School Diploma by which individuals can earn Broadly defined activities that support children's their high school diploma or equivalent positive development and academic success Literacy Advanced Preparation Academic help specifically focused on improving Services or programs that allow students to enroll children's English reading and/or writing abilities in postsecondary coursework while still enrolled in high school, including dual enrollment, advanced Remediation placement and international baccalaureate Programs that help with course or credit recovery classes, and career & technical education and/or remedial instruction (e.g., fundamentals of pathways math and reading) Career Pathways Awareness SAT / ACT Prep Services that help students become aware of Preparation classes for college admissions tests available careers and strategies to attain them (SAT or ACT) Certification / Credentialing Social and Emotional Learning Certificates or credentials that are awarded upon Programs that help students develop the completion of a relatively brief course of study knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and College Pathway Awareness achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for Programs that help students become aware of others, establish and maintain positive ways to access and attend college relationships, and make responsible decisions Dropout Prevention STEM Services that help students remain enrolled in and Academic enrichment/support programs that graduate from high school and college specifically focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Mathematics Support Services Tutoring or Mentoring Services to support students' academic success Tutoring or mentoring services to support and overall well-being students' academic and life success Transition Programs Work-Based Learning Programs to help students transition from various Learning experiences such as job shadowing, life stages (e.g., high school to college; community internships, co-ops, and apprenticeships that college to four-year college; incarceration to occur under the supervision of a trained or mainstream society) certified professional in the field Populations Served Programs were also categorized by the populations they serve. The list below provides brief definitions of the categories used Elementary School Students High School Dropouts Current elementary school students (grades K-5) Adults who have not yet completed high school or the equivalent Middle School Students Current middle school students (grades 6-8) Foster Care Youth Youth who are currently in foster care, are High School Students transitioning out of foster care, or who were in Current high school students (grades 9-12) foster care Underprepared HS Graduates Immigrant Populations For the purposes of this report, individuals who Individuals who immigrated from another country graduated from high school but are not yet or children whose parents emigrated from another college- or career-ready country. Higher Education Enrollees Individuals with Disabilities Students who have graduated high school and Individuals with cognitive, intellectual, enrolled in postsecondary degree programs developmental, physical, sensory, and/or emotional disabilities Nontraditional Adult learners who have completed high school Unemployed or Underemployed and are returning for training and education, Individuals who are currently unemployed or those sometimes after having completed some college who are employed, but below their desired level of and/or military service. This category also hours or appropriate compensation, based on includes adults who must retrain for their skills, education, and experience reemployment. Veterans Justice-System Involved Individuals who served in the military Youth or adults who have been/are currently court-involved, incarcerated, or formerly incarcerated Introduction Overview Charlotte-Mecklenburg enjoys many of the assets and attributes of a growing and thriving region, including a robust economy and a quality of life that has attracted a steady influx of newcomers for over two decades. With an economy that continues to diversify, an urban school system that is nationally recognized as one of the strongest, and emerging cultural and entrepreneurial sectors, the Charlotte region would appear to have a solid foundation on which to provide a sustainable standard of living for its residents. While the promises of opportunity and prosperity have become a reality for some, there exists a growing divide between those for whom the prospects of upward mobility are real, and those for whom the odds are distinctly lower. A 2014 study published by Harvard University and University of California-Berkeley revealed that only 4.4 percent of children born into the lowest 20 percent of national income distribution who reside within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg “commuting zone” will move to the top 20 percent.1 Charlotte ranked fiftieth among the 50 largest cities and ninety-ninth out of the 100 largest commuting zones on this economic mobility measure. In response, an Opportunity Task Force was formed to study the issue locally. After two years of learning, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Leading on Opportunity report was released in spring of 2017. The report identified two cross-cutting factors and three interrelated determinants that are believed to have the greatest influence on an individual’s opportunity trajectory. Cross-Cutting Factors Interrelated Determinants •Segregation •Early Care and Education •Social Capital •Child and Family Stability •College and Career Readiness To better understand the state of college and career readiness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Foundation For The Carolinas and the John M. Belk Endowment co-sponsored an effort to comprehensively document the programs and resources into a Postsecondary Ecosystem in 2015. In 2017, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute (the Institute) worked to update the ecosystem, transitioning it to the College and Career Readiness Ecosystem for consistency and clarity. 1 Chetty, R. et al. 'Where Is The Land Of Opportunity? The Geography Of Intergenerational Mobility In The United States'. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129.4 (2014): 1553-1623. Web 1 Methodology In 2015, ROI Impact Consulting completed 60 interviews across public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors. The majority of the information gathered in this report comes from the work that came out of those interviews as well as existing online resources (see Appendix A), other relevant community initiatives (see Appendix B), and the websites of included organizations and programs. The Institute supplemented ROI Impact Consulting’s interviews with additional meetings and email exchanges