CLPHA’s Postsecondary Leadership Institute

The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) is pleased to continue work that began in 2018 with the Kresge Foundation to convene cross-sector housing and education partners who are collaborating to improve postsecondary achievement for students served by public housing authorities, including residents and housing insecure college students.

CLPHA, through its Housing Is Initiative, established a leadership institute for a cohort of public housing authorities and their partners who demonstrate the experience and capacity for postsecondary collaboration. This opportunity supports the creation and strengthening of existing postsecondary initiatives for housing authority residents that leverage the capacity, resources, and expertise of CLPHA, its member public housing authorities (PHAs), and postsecondary partners such as community colleges and nonprofit organizations.

In order to facilitate greater development of postsecondary partnerships, PHAs often seek proven models to replicate and customize, as well as peer leaders to learn from as they implement new programs. In addition to dissemination efforts, CLPHA will invest time to further develop agencies’ existing postsecondary programs.

This Leadership Institute aims to:

Increase and strengthen initiatives between PHAs and postsecondary partners;
Institutionalize such efforts; and
Showcase best practices for others to replicate. We will identify specific agency-partner collaborations to support with additional resources to improve postsecondary outcomes for their residents.

Through a competitive selection process, CLPHA identified specific agency-partner collaborations to support with additional resources to improve postsecondary outcomes for their residents: Chicago, LA, El Paso, Boston, Jersey City, and New Haven. Cohort members participated in monthly virtual learning sessions on topics including mission definition, program design, financing, communications, and metrics, all with an underpinning of racial equity. These topics were chosen after conversation with the cohort, observation of discussion, application indications, and a survey. The cohort also participated in office hours aimed at institutionalizing the cohort’s cross-sector work, as well as continued technical assistance for individual communities and beginning the process for in-person site visits to learn about the different projects in the field.

Below are summaries of what each community set out to achieve as part of their participation in the cohort and the progress they have made so far.

Boston

The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) & Northeastern University came into the cohort offering a full-tuition scholarship for eligible public housing undergrad, transfer, and continuing education students to reverse low retention rates of Black students. The goal continues to be to create college pathways for all low/moderate income residents who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend, but specifically wanted to:

Increase the number of applicants to the BHA Scholars Program.
Raise greater awareness of the scholarship opportunity and to improve promotion of the College of Professional Studies and transfer options.
Fully utilize all available scholarships each year (currently 10 annually).
Strengthen support of enrolled students so they persist and succeed in their academic program.
Establish better information sharing on graduation rates and work to increase it if is not 100%.
Create opportunities for alumni to participate in information meetings and/or as part of the strengthened support program.
BHA and Northeastern wish to continue and improve their Service Learning and Alliance of Civically Engaged Students programs.

Through participation in the leadership institute, the BHA Scholars program saw a dramatic increase in applicants for the 2020-2021 application cycle. Their incoming cohort includes five students which leaves room for CPS/transfer students to join the cohort as the enrollment cycle continues for those applicants. They are continuing to work on improving data sharing across BHA & NU, and are also planning and executing a summer program to connect new and old BHA Scholars.

Chicago

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), and educational support partner, One Million Degrees (OMD), came into the cohort wanting to increase and improve their established best practices to promote and foster future development of other cross-sector housing providers, post-secondary institutions, and educational advocates/external student support providers. The primary goals they have developed over the past year include:

Goal 1: Converting Interested Students to Enrolled Students

Throughout the duration of the program they identified that students are showing interest in the program but only about half are enrolling. They are working towards this goal by:

Increased Marketing and Communication Across CCC, CHA and OMD
Flexibility: They have found that being flexible and meeting students where they are can be a great benefit to enrollment. The switch to virtual information sessions due to the pandemic actually helped many students who previously had challenges meeting with their Project Coordinators in person.
Reduced Program Onboarding Processes: In examining options for changes resulting from COVID-19, they determined they could reduce the amount of paperwork that students had to complete for the program. Students shared that this made the process easier to operate. Switching to online paper also allowed Chicago partners to receive students’ information in real time. Lastly, they reduced the stipulations to their appeal process.

Goal 2: Maximizing Educational Services through CCC and OMD

Over the course of the last year, each PiE Plus scholar had the opportunity to receive educational supports both through CCC and OMD.

Goal 3: Engage CHA Residential Male Population

This goal is focused on the academic programs at CCC and during the coming fiscal year they plan to highlight different programs during information sessions as well as through the Marketing and Communication channels at both CCC and CHA.

Goal 4: Exchange Best Practices with Other Housing and Educational Providers

They reported that they benefitted greatly from hearing “substantial information” on best practices from cohort members. The PiE team is focused on metrics, program planning, and funding opportunities for their students as they go into the next year of the Leadership Cohort.

El Paso

The Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP) came into the cohort thinking they would focus on creating networks and resources to help youth transition successfully into permanent housing, employment, higher education attainment and efficacy. As they worked with us on their logic model, they identified that in order for the program to be sustainable and efficient, it was essential to have a mentoring component and they added the goal of training foster youth to become mentors for the project. HACEP came into the cohort with a research partner, but reached out to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and gained them as an active partner in the work. Together, they have identified content for their curriculum, and continue to refine delivery methods for the program. They have identified five potential foster youth, and met with three of the five potential mentors to explain the proposed project to gauge their interest and all of them are interested. They are planning to work through the summer on finalizing the curriculum, schedule and methods of delivery with an aim to start project sessions in the fall.

Jersey City

The Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA) and Hudson County Community College (HCCC) came into the cohort to strengthen their workforce development and job placement opportunities for JCHA residents by: (1) focusing on place-based initiatives and (2) providing the resources and supports necessary to help address barriers to resident participation in, and ability to complete, post-secondary programming.

Together, JCHA and HCCC envisioned that they would specially design and provide site-based programming through HCCC to offer “middle skill” certifications in specific growth industries in and around Jersey City. While the COVID-19 pandemic did not change the underlying programming goals at the outset, it did alter the landscape of industry and employment in Jersey City, including decreasing opportunities in industries like hospitality, increasing opportunities in industries like healthcare. COVID-19 also meant JCHA had to table the idea of an in-person cohort of JCHA residents working together towards a certification but were able to explore the flexibility that comes with remote and hybrid classes. As Chicago saw, one of the barriers most frequently cited by JCHA residents is transportation and remote learning obviates that barrier.

Through participation in the cohort, JCHA and HCCC:

Identified three industries to focus workforce development efforts for the first cohort of participants in the fall of 2021: healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and construction management and developed a presentation for residents. Each of these industries met important criteria: (1) growth industries, with (2) opportunities for immediate employment upon completion of a training program and (3) opportunities for advancement within the industry; and (4) free or very low-cost training, certification, or degree programs at HCCC. They sought to include some short-term certification opportunities as well as more traditional degree programs, and some online or hybrid options as well as in-person programs
Identified barriers, resources, and supports to help JCHA residents enroll and complete the programs. HCCC offers its students a wide array of non-academic supports: a food pantry, SingleStop (access to benefits), a Chromebook loan program, Career Closet, an emergency grant program, family services, health screenings, and career counseling – which, as a result of this partnership, has been made available to JCHA residents. We have reached out to other community partners who can help address additional barriers, including childcare, eldercare, transportation, and digital inclusion.
Identified desired outcomes and an understanding of what success will look like, and have worked this year to figure out how to set a baseline and how to quantify and measure those results. In the short term, they will track enrollment, retention, and completion in job training and other programs; longer-term, they will use employment and income of our resident participants to assess effectiveness. They also envision an outcome that is less quantifiable: our hope for our participants is that they will develop awareness of the resources available in the community.

Their biggest challenge has been and continues to be around crafting their message and getting buy-in from JCHA residents. Several outreach sessions were scheduled this spring for that purpose, but were cancelled due to low enrollment. A critical next step is engaging residents in a conversation about how best to build a program that suits their needs. Overall, JCHA and HCCC report that their “participation in Year 1 of CLPHA’s Postsecondary Leadership Institute and the conversations we have had during and as a result of Institute programming have been instrumental in helping us solidify our partnership and begin to make our vision a reality.”

Los Angeles

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and the Southern California College Access Network (SoCal CAN) came into the cohort continuing their work begun under Project SOAR and have adapted their programming to support residents across five HACLA housing sites. The focus in Spring 2020 was to: (1) ensure SOAR students had access to the support (socio-emotional, financial and technological) to continue forward with their studies. At the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, the SOAR team designed the SOAR Ambassador Program with the goal of hiring six students and six parents to help spread the word to fellow residents that SOAR counseling was available to them in a virtual format. These student and parent ambassadors supported Project SOAR through promotion, recruitment, and social media efforts at HACLA public housing sites. Ambassadors helped staff identify new strategies and ideas for connecting with residents at each site. In March 2021, the Project SOAR team was able to return to sites and offer in-person programming and counseling. Similar to many social services, SOAR will take full advantage of the benefits that have come with virtual programming and resources to deliver a hybrid model moving forward. The program has also been able to provide refurbished laptops to students in need. Project SOAR was able to help identify, recruit, and assist eligible HACLA residents for the Build Hope Inc. Scholarship program this past April with a record number of applicants.

HACLA and SoCal CAN have also worked closely together to continue raising awareness about SOAR among school and college leaders, elected officials and philanthropic partners. This has included meetings with federal and state representatives in the districts where SOAR operates, presentations to the LAUSD School Board, and on-going conversations with state/local/national funders. The SOAR team reports they have “benefited immeasurably from our involvement in the CLPHA Leadership Institute. From the monthly workshops, to the opportunities for peer exchange, to the insightful office hours with CLPHA consultants, the Project SOAR cross-sector collaboration stands on even stronger footing than it did at the onset of the Leadership Institute. The leadership and on-the-ground staff at HACLA and SoCal CAN have a deeper shared understanding of the goals, desired outcomes and approaches taken by SOAR. We also have a stronger commitment to jointly fundraising for its continuation and expansion.”

New Haven

Southern CT State University (SCSU) and Elm City Communities (the Housing Authority of New Haven) came into the cohort as partners that launched in 2019 to provide an Education Training Program for SCSU students working toward degrees in social work and an objective to prepare students for future employment and/or careers through job exposure and work experiences, increase independent skills and increase knowledge of and access to community resources. ECC/HANH youth have the opportunity to attend SCSU and they are implementing a new education initiative for ECC youth to provide individualized and collaborative assistance (such as case management, coaching and tutoring within each school year) to the students and their families in order to enhance the ability to increase and sustain the student’s enrollment, support academic outcomes and reduce the overall achievement gap for ECC Resident.

SCSU and ECC report that “this cohort has served as a great learning experience to understand the potential types of programs that we could partner on. Most importantly, while SCSU and ECC have worked in partnership on other initiatives, this program allowed SCSU and ECC to formalize a partnership focused on college readiness and success for ECC youth. It also allowed us to connect us to the appropriate departments at SCSU to help make this program possible. The opportunity to participate in the CLPHA program is directly responsible for facilitating these new relationships. This cohort has provided a space to think through and articulate the mission, vision, and goals of the partnership. The program assisted the collaboration focus on developing objectives that helped to sharpen our purpose and partnership. Lastly, it was very valuable to learn from the more experienced programs across the country. ECC/SCSU will and have used other cohort members experience and outcomes to apply to enhance our program. We look forward to visit and incorporate many programs to our community.”

Additional Feedback from the Cohort

“I think the timing of everything is really great to see because we have kind of gone through a whole admission cycle. We’ve had probably four times as many students be considered for the scholarship program this year. We had way more students deposit that will be joining us in the fall and it 100% would not have been possible without this cohort or the collaboration, and just having more carved out time to talk about these important topics. This leadership institute has really helped put these students toward the forefront and we’re seeing it really come through for them.” - Maddie, Northeastern University

“It’s always helpful to learn from other partners and see what they're doing. I think that really enhances our work and gives us ideas on what to think about and consider.” - Jennifer, HACLA

“I think that we are having a chance to re-evaluate what it is that we do and I think that this program has been striving for over a decade and changes have been made. When I came into the program I saw a lot of things that I wanted to change and it was mostly from the outside, like “this doesn't really resonate with me. I don't really understand what's going on here”. This cohort has given me a chance to see what other people are doing that are in a similar position. It also gave me the opportunity to figure out how we can take it a step further, what other concerns can be addressed, and also just to kind of reevaluate not only the way we get our data but the type of data that we’re collecting in the beginning of the process. This cohort definitely helped with the program planning. Data and metrics was another very important aspect for me and to just kind of top it off with the marketing piece, those were the three things that really resonated with me and helped me start to think about and start to put in action things that we can do differently in Chicago.” - Erica, City Colleges of Chicago

“We've really appreciated having this monthly space to come together as a cross-sector team, a cross-organizational team and have, you know, you all facilitate a space for us to think through all these components. It's rare that you get the opportunity for that outside facilitation that’s been coupled with all the learning pieces too, I just think that that 1-2 combo has infinitely benefited us, at least from the project SOAR collaboration side of things and I just have really appreciated that.” - Alison, SoCal CAN

“From a smaller nonprofit organizational perspective, it has been really great to be part of these conversations we've been learning so much through our collaboration with our partners, but I think even just understanding the value that nonprofit organizations bring to these sorts of system-wide programs, and just continuously learning from what's going on across the nation has been really fantastic.” - PuraCarina, OMD

“I'm appreciative of the space as well. I think this actually brought a lot of insights to me as well as someone working with an agency and sometimes it’s hard to work with partners because of many variables, but it brought even more to that. For example, just today’s talk about the difference between communication and marketing. The work is so busy and it has excelled especially during COVID that you really don't have the chance to sit down and really think it through and be able to execute for our residents. I look forward to continuing this work. I look forward to visiting everywhere. I'm coming to everyone's site and I will get it out of somebody's budget because I think the experience is really necessary. I think that seeing what people are doing in different agencies can spark new ideas and it’s good to get out and get a fresh look at things, to be a spectator instead of being in it. I'm really appreciative and you all and Abra, you guys are just so awesome. I think that you really got us together, you took us out of our busy schedules to have a scope in this process, to benefit our residents, which our goal is, but you pulled us away so that we can make it a 2.0 version of what we are doing so I am appreciative of that.” -LaToya, Elm City Communities

Learn more about our postsecondary work in our 2019 report, "Eliminating Barriers to Postsecondary Success," created with with support from The Kresge Foundation. This publication elevates 11 shared learnings from a recent convening of these five pioneering PHAs and their postsecondary collaborators, and offers a series of recommendations to policy makers, PHAs, and philanthropic organizations seeking to develop emerging cross-sector collaborations between housing and education organizations.

Member Profile

Current Issues

CLPHA’s Postsecondary Leadership Institute

Sorry, this content is only available to members.

Footer Menu Left