The Teagle Foundation’s Board of Directors has renewed support to the College Completion Innovation Fund, a funder collaborative that will award grants to New York City community-based organizations and colleges and universities to address undergraduate transfer student success and to increase overall momentum and persistence to graduation.

In addition to this award, the Foundation launched two new initiatives this fall: Education for American Civic Life and Pathways to the Liberal Arts. Along with its ongoing support for Liberal Arts and the Professions, the Teagle Foundation will review grant requests for all three initiatives on a rolling basis. 

Through Education for American Civic Life, the Teagle Foundation seeks to elevate the civic objectives of liberal arts education through faculty-led efforts within the curriculum grounded in the issues that define and challenge American democracy. Foundation President Andrew Delbanco explains, “We have observed a disturbing lack of knowledge among undergraduates about the distinctive institutions of our constitutional republic. It seems to us critically important for students to grasp the essential elements of American history so they can think in an informed way about perennial challenges such as First Amendment protections and the issue of immigration into a pluralistic society.”

The Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative supports access to and success in liberal arts education, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might not ordinarily attempt a rigorous liberal arts program. Prospective applicants are invited to choose one of three target areas: (1) strengthening access to the liberal arts in the transition from high school to college; (2) strengthening transfer access to the liberal arts from public two-year to private four-year colleges; and (3) strengthening the rigor and quality of liberal arts pathways at two- and four-year institutions.

Finally, the Liberal Arts and the Professions initiative continues to identify programs with goals to infuse new disciplinary content and perspectives from the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences into undergraduate education for the professions, most prominently in business, engineering, and nursing. 

Grant Awarded

Special Project
Graduate NYC
The College Completion Innovation Fund
$100,000 over 36 months toward the “College Completion Innovation Fund,” which will support projects that seek to address undergraduate transfer student success and increasing overall momentum and persistence to graduation in New York City.