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Building and Reforming Systems

The Foundation’s education reform work identifies and disrupts structural and systemic barriers to equity, access and success for students in Florida’s metropolitan areas of Tampa, Orlando and Miami. Through this work, we find key leverage points that open the door to opportunity for students from pre-K through postsecondary. We’re also working to reform and align birth-8, K-12, community college and university systems to support student degree completion for more first generation, low income and minority students.

Children’s First, Florida

Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities

By way of a $500,000 grant, Helios is a lead funder of the Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities. Consortium members, Florida International University, the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida, collectively serve over 162,000 currently enrolled postsecondary students, representing 47 percent of all students in the state’s university system. Additionally, students enrolled in Consortium institutions represent 50 percent of all Pell Grant recipients, 54 percent of the state’s underrepresented minorities and at least 25 percent of all first-generation students in the state. Collectively, Consortium institutions will develop action plans to strengthen student support services in four critical and inter-related areas: Predictive Analytics, High-Tech Pathways, Targeted Supports and Career Readiness.

“The Consortium of Florida Metropolitan Research Universities is a cornerstone of Helios’ work in Florida. The focus on wrap-around student services, shared best practices and predictive analytics has the potential to propel numerous first-generation, under represented Florida students toward the completion of a postsecondary degree.”

Braulio Colón, Vice President and Program Director,
Postsecondary Completion, Helios Education Foundation

Early Learning Florida

Helios is working to reform early childhood education systems in Florida through our $900,000 investment in Early Learning Florida. This initiative is helping connect early childhood education teachers and K-3 educators to better facilitate student success as they transition across these systems. This work is aligning professional development and curriculum with an emphasis on emergent literacy and language acquisition. Earl y Learning Florida has built an online professional development system that provides statewide access to high-quality training, blended courses to support the completion of in-service hours, continuing education credits and credentials and degrees. By investing in the professional development of early childhood educators, Helios believes that a greater number of children will enter kindergarten with enhanced cognitive development and literacy skills, enabling them to experience success in the early grades and achieve reading proficiency by the end of third grade.

“Emergent literacy and language acquisition during the earliest years has been proven to be critical in laying a solid foundation for long-term academic success and life-long learning. Developing such critical skills in young children requires early childhood teachers to create a print and language-rich learning environment.”

Dr. Karen Ortiz, Vice President and Program Director,
Early Grade Success, Helios Education Foundation

Florida College Access Network

The Florida College Access Network (FCAN) is Florida’s first collaborating network of national, state and local entities committed to increasing the number of working-age adults who hold a high-quality postsecondary degree or credential to 60 percent by the year 2025. Helios’ investment of $1.5 million into this organization is helping with system building across the development and enhancement of local college access networks as well the convening and engagement of key stakeholders and capacity building of the organization. FCAN is working to ensure all students, particularly low-income, first generation students, are supported through their postsecondary education experience.

Helios’ investment of $1.5 million into this organization is helping with system building across the development and enhancement of local college access networks.

Leadership Florida Education Initiative

Recognizing that a high-quality public education is key to the state’s economic growth, Leadership Florida, with a $100,000 investment from each of three organizations — Helios Education Foundation, the Florida Department of Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — has created the Education Initiative Class, a new platform for education decision makers to identify and explore the challenges and innovative solutions to improving college and career readiness for Florida’s students. This education-specific membership class represents a diverse, cross-section of education leaders from around the state. Leadership Florida grooms leaders to impact change in their individual communities and has graduated over 1,000 leaders since the statewide program began in 1982.

“The Education in Leadership class brings Florida’s diverse education leaders together to explore continuous improvements in education for our students and our state.”

Dr. Stacy Carlson, Vice President and Program Director,
College and Career Readiness, Helios Education Foundation