Achieve College Education (ACE) through Community and Higher Education Partnerships

I-LEAD designed the ACE Program to address the primary barriers adults face when pursuing higher education: time, cost, skills and culture. I-LEAD coordinates a collaborative of thirteen community-based organizations across Pennsylvania to deliver the program. Since its inception in 2005, over 400 adult learners have or are pursuing their Associate’s Degrees with 80% graduation rates. 

I-LEAD enrolls working adult learners and other students in an accredited Associate’s Degree program delivered onsite in their neighborhood, at a school, church, housing development, or other community-based organization.  Courses are conducted during evening hours, in an accelerated cohort-based format, with a real-world curriculum that complements, rather than conflicts, with the competing demands of work and family. 

Partners are Key to Success

I-LEAD serves as facilitator, forming the partnerships, coordinating operations, providing technical assistance, and sourcing and training faculty in adult learning pedagogy and Leadership Studies curriculum content.

Harcum College, as the higher education partner, provides Middle States accreditation and financial aid processing, application, matriculation and graduation procedures, hire faculty, and maintain a suite of other degree offerings.

Community partners leverage existing educational facilities and community relationships to host classes, recruit students, and provide support services that increase retention and graduation rates.

ACE consortium students are members of under-represented groups in higher education: low-income working adults of color, age 20 to 40, many of whom are first-generation college students or returning to college after sending their own children to school. Student cohorts reflect the demographic diversity of the urban neighborhoods where the program typically takes place: 70% African American, 25% Latino, and 5% White. The majority of students are employed, but cannot advance or compete for higher paying jobs without a degree. The college attainment rate of working adults in ACE neighborhoods is 0-7%, compared to the Pennsylvania state average of 27%. Education deficits create the dramatic difference between poverty levels in these neighborhoods (50-70%) compared to the poverty level of the state as a whole (19%).