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College Access + Success

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America Needs You

We were one of the earliest supporters of America Needs You (ANY), an organization that has achieved success in responding to the needs of first-generation college students and has received...

America’s Promise Alliance

Problem: The mental health crisis among underserved youth is only getting worse with both schools lacking sufficient mental health programs and non-profits remaining siloed in their response to this challenge....

Bottom Line

We have long supported Bottom Line’s college success program in catalytic ways, which has allowed for its steady growth; it now serves over 2,500 first-generation New York City students across...

College Access: Research & Action (CARA)

We have encouraged college access programs to share best practices and to expand their reach by training other organizations in what they do and how. CARA has developed and refined...

College Admissions Cognitive Advisor

We were an initial funder of a strategic partnership between foundations and a technology company which led to the development of the College Admissions Cognitive Advisor, an innovative, web-based tool...

College Advising Corps

We have supported two strategic partnerships involving College Advising Corps (CAC) and the College Board. The first centered around the development of a learning lab in which they collaboratively tested...

College Completion Innovation Fund

WWe were an early funder of a strategic partnership which led to the creation of the College Completion Innovation Fund (CCIF) through Graduate NYC. We helped establish the CCIF, now...

College Enrollment and Stop Out Crisis

Problem: There has been a massive drop in undergraduate enrollments and degree completion, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations in recent years. Less than 25% of students entering community colleges...

College Transfer Credits

We are making a catalytic impact on the issue of transfer credits by enabling students who transfer between City University of New York (CUNY) colleges, which well over two-thirds of...

CollegePoint

We formed a strategic partnership with other funders for and helped to lead the design, incubation and scaling of CollegePoint – a coalition of nonprofit organizations helping high-achieving, low- and...

CUNY Completion Grants

Problem: CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS) serves more than 4,700 degree-seeking students and has one of the most successful online degree programs nationally. Students attending this and other CUNY...

FAFSA Completion

Problem: During the COVID‑19 pandemic, FAFSA completion rates dropped significantly, particularly among low‑income students. From 2019 to 2021, there were over a quarter‑million fewer FAFSA submissions than expected. If a...

Global Glimpse

Our catalytic support of Global Glimpse, a travel and leadership education program founded in the San Francisco Bay Area, positioned it to generate ongoing, sustainable revenue, laying the groundwork for...

Modern States Education Alliance

Many students do not attain a college degree because they exhaust grant aid, such as the federal Pell Grant and New York State’s TAP, before earning enough credits to graduate....

Nudge4 Solutions Lab

We spearheaded the launch of the Nudge4 Solutions Lab by Dr. Ben Castleman of the University of Virginia to pilot low-cost and high-impact behavioral solutions to address pressing social problems....

OneGoal

We provided the initial catalytic funding to allow OneGoal to expand to New York City. Over the past decade, OneGoal has served over 3,000 NYC students. Nationally, OneGoal Fellows graduate...

Overgrad

Heckscher helped Overgrad develop a customized college match tool for New York City students. Overgrad is a college and career readiness platform working to make the college application process more...

Peer Mentoring Initiatives

Peer mentoring is a scalable and cost-effective solution to improve the retention and graduation rates of at-risk and high-needs college students. We have supported two promising models operating on CUNY...

Posse Foundation

We helped conceive of and provided support to Posse Foundation to create two revenue producing models to complement its traditional college access program. Posse Consulting created an earned revenue stream...

Single Stop USA

We initiated and funded the first-of-its-kind Single Stop USA Community College Initiative to expand opportunities for low-income, high-need community college students. As a result of our founding support at Kingsborough...

Student Leadership Network’s CollegeBound Initiative

We supported a collaboration between Student Leadership Network’s CollegeBound Initiative (CBI), a high-touch college guidance and access program that places highly-trained, full-time college counselors in partnering Title I New York...

SUNY Student Emergency Fund

For the majority of underserved students in New York City who wish to attend college away from home, the State University of New York (SUNY) colleges are the most accessible...

The Common Application

Problem: As many as half of all low-income students do not apply to or attend selective institutions to which they appear to be admissible (based on their academic record) because,...

The Opportunity Network

The Opportunity Network (OppNet) is one of the most effective programs at teaching career-readiness skills to high-achieving youth through its direct-to-student Fellows program and Career Fluency Partnerships program–strategic partnerships with...

The TEAK Fellowship

The TEAK Fellowship was established in 1998 to help motivated New York City students gain admission to top public, independent, and parochial high schools, and to succeed once enrolled. TEAK...

uAspire

School counselors often lack the training and capacity to provide the college affordability planning and financial aid coaching students need. uAspire is the strongest program providing students with access to...
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