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. Our early support was catalytic in establishing the Lab and its capacity to develop scalable innovations in education and public policy by leveraging behavioral insights, data science, interactive technologies, and deep practitioner partnerships. The Lab – later supported by leading national funders – focused on four priority areas: reducing educational inequality; improving outcomes for veterans and their dependents; reducing chronic unemployment; and improving reentry outcomes for incarcerated youth and adults.
We funded and helped develop, in collaboration with Nudge4 and ideas42, Nudges, Norms, and New Solutions, a free online guide and print booklet that provides a comprehensive synthesis of the most important evidence-based behavioral science interventions in postsecondary education, with analyses of specific strategies that appear most successful overall and within certain populations. We distributed Nudges, Norms, and New Solutions at the National College Access Network (NCAN) National Conference, which 20,000 professionals attended.
In 2022, we expanded our support to Nudge4 in a multi-year initiative with ideas42 focusing on the college enrollment crises and effective and ineffective approaches to engage students. The project aimed to identify and accelerate broad implementation of the most promising innovations among college access and success practitioners. The conclusions are available here.