New & Noteworthy
Catalyst Endowment Fund Awards Grants to Support Student Pathways to Post Secondary Success
Now more than ever, students wishing to successfully complete post-secondary education and find career opportunities are faced with a wide range of challenges. This is especially true for many first-generation college students from working class families. Fortunately, there are many supports and strategies that can be employed to ensure that students can overcome these obstacles including programming focused on mental health and wellness, vocational and college access, mentoring, and retention strategies.
This year, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s three giving circles: the Black Giving Circle Fund, the Catalyst Endowment Fund, and the Latino Endowment Fund joined together to explore and address the multifaceted challenges facing students pursuing post-secondary education and career advancement in our region. The three groups participated in a series of learning sessions with organizations working on these issues to better understand the critical disparities in post-secondary success that disproportionately impact students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities, while recognizing that "success" encompasses many different pathways.
For more than a decade, ReadyCT has sought to bridge the public education system with workforce development, preparing students for successful futures through career-connected learning. The organization is focused on integrating career pathways and work-based learning opportunities within K-12 education, partnering with schools and industries in Greater Hartford and across Connecticut.
Low-income students, disproportionately represented by students of color, are the focus of ReadyCT’s programming. The idea is to first make these students aware that ReadyCT focuses on preparing primarily Black and Latine high school students to enter high-growth and high-demand career sector opportunities in Connecticut and then prepare them with the skills and knowledge to succeed.
ReadyCT’s business partnerships power this work. Employers are key to informing the instruction and experiences students receive in organization’s programming. ReadyCT has established business partnerships in Greater Hartford within sectors that are integral to its program structure and are critical to better aligning K-12 education and workforce systems. Many students complete their ReadyCT experience by connecting with high-demand fields like healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology, ReadyCT helps students build essential skills and earn industry-recognized credentials, better promoting their economic mobility while meeting local workforce needs.
To support this work, the Catalyst Endowment Fund awarded ReadyCT a $54,750 grant to support its work to address gaps in college and career programming in the region’s Alliance Districts which serve significant numbers of Black and Latine students.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Catalyst Endowment Fund for this support,” said Shannon Marimón, executive director at ReadyCT. “This gift will allow us to deepen our impact with students and provide them with the most robust and engaging career readiness experience possible. It is exciting to think about the workforce we are building in this way, to the benefit of towns and businesses across the state of Connecticut.”
ReadyCT’s Career-Connected Learning engages students during school hours and after school, in an effort to cast the widest net. The goal is to create a mutually rewarding school-business network – one where the business provides a continuum of work-based learning experiences, and the student provides value and work products to the business. The grant from Catalyst will support ReadyCT’s work to engage students across Greater Hartford in pathways such as Allied Health, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Insurance, Digital Media, Journalism and Public Service. In addition to Career Pathways, the Foundation funding will support ReadyCT’s impact in Greater Hartford through additional programs including:
- The ReadyCT Internship Program provides income and meaningful career opportunities.
- Student 5.0 is a postsecondary planning program for high school seniors and recent graduates, including career readiness training and paid internships.
- G.R.I.T. (Get Ready! Immersive Traineeship) offers skills development for younger high school students through real-world projects with businesses like Travelers and Hartford HealthCare.
- F.R.Y.A. (First Responders Youth Academy) offers paid internships offering hands-on exposure to careers in law enforcement and firefighting.
In addition to this work, ReadyCT has become active in state-level policy efforts aimed at strengthening public school systems and career readiness. The organization holds an advisory role in the Governor’s Workforce Council, advocates for policy improvements in areas such as educator certification, and is a key contributor to initiatives like the Lt. Governor’s Computing Challenge, and a statewide robotics initiative that brings FIRST Robotics and Robotics Education & Competition Foundation’s VEX Competitions resources to school districts across the state.
Members of the Catalyst Endowment Fund also approved an $18,750 grant to Hartford-based nonprofit Charter Oak Boxing Academy (COBA) to support its Education Portal Program (EPP). EPP promotes high school completion and technical career institution or college applications among youth in Hartford. The program provides participants with guidance, technical assistance, exposure, and support for high-school aged youth so they can pursue post-secondary education following graduation.
In addition, the program offers career exposure and development, internships, summer employment, and job training in several different fields. This includes training options in marketing, sales, budgeting, lighting, audio visual, and event planning. EPP also provides students with opportunities for college campus tours, as well as education to youth interested in pursuing a college education and inform their families about what is needed to prepare for the college application process. In addition, COBA provides participants with scholarship information and assistance with FAFSA and financial aid applications.
“COBA has been successful in helping many of its youth transition to college as well as pursuing other post-secondary education opportunities,” said COBA Founder, Executive Director, and Head Coach Johnny Callas. “With this grant from the Hartford Foundation’s Catalyst Endowment Fund, we will be able to continue our Educational Portal Program’s work to provide COBA students and their families with holistic, intensive support to ensure that they have the tools they need to pursue their academic and career aspirations.”
Established in 1993, the Hartford Foundation’s Catalyst Endowment Fund is a giving circle of generous, civic-minded donors in the Greater Hartford area. Each year, members select a topic with the goal of making one or more grants that will be catalytic in the 29-town region served by the Hartford Foundation. The fund has made 70 grants totaling $1.2 million to Greater Hartford nonprofits.
For more information about the Catalyst Endowment Fund, contact Ramonita Garcia, Donor Experience Officer at rgarcia@hfpg.org.
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns. Through partnerships, the Foundation seeks to strengthen communities in Greater Hartford by putting philanthropy in action to dismantle structural racism and achieve equity in social and economic mobility. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $1 billion since its founding in 1925. For more information, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.