Many colleges and universities face blindspots when seeking out prospective first-generation, low-income students to recruit and enroll. Many community-based organizations (CBOs) and secondary schools encounter difficulties getting on the radar of colleges and universities and ensuring their students will persist and graduate. In this session, panelists will present insights and proven practices to: 1) create an effective organization profile and lean on your access network to help promote your brand; 2) navigate informal partnerships versus memorandums of understanding and evaluate the ROI of partnerships; and 3) discuss examples of several successful multidimensional partnership frameworks that promote postsecondary success. Elements of this session will be drawn from research and findings from a College Greenlight and American Talent Initiative research brief on best practices for CBO and college collaboration.
Guiding Questions:
1) Do you want to strategically expand your relationships with colleges who are mission-aligned and invested in supporting first-generation, low-income students to and through college? How can you connect with colleges who do not yet understand your mission?
2) Are you currently engaged in college partnership work but seeking new strategies and perspectives to make them more dynamic? How do you cultivate partner relationships over time? What happens when your lead contact takes a new role?
3) Do you want to learn how other organizations define and measure the success of their college relationships? How can you re-evaluate and measure the efficacy of your partnerships?