About Ascendium Ascendium Education Group’s philanthropy is grounded in our commitment to ensuring all learners have a path to upward mobility, and the recognition that good jobs increasingly require some kind of postsecondary education or specialized workforce training. As a national funder, our investments aim to transform postsecondary education and Read more
Ranita Jain, Annie E. Casey Foundation Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. Throughout my career, I’ve focused on expanding access to meaningful education and employment opportunities, especially for individuals who have been historically underserved. Over the years, I’ve worked across government, research Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I lead the Weinberg Foundation’s grantmaking focused on helping individuals and families achieve economic stability. I oversee more than $15 million in grants annually, primarily aimed at supporting job-training programs that result in industry-recognized credentials, as Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. My name is Tuquan Harrison (he/they), and I am a Program Officer at the James Irvine Foundation. For the past three years, I have led grantmaking and strategy development for the Better Careers Initiative, focusing on investing in a Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I currently lead the work-based learning strategy at Strada Education Foundation. Our aspiration is for every learner to have access to quality work-based learning, so we’re focused on a dramatic scale of paid internships, apprenticeships, and Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I have spent close to a decade working in philanthropy, spanning both the private and corporate sectors, with a focus on workforce development and education. Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed firsthand the power of bringing people Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. My entire professional career has been dedicated to workforce development, beginning with my role supporting returning citizens in partnership with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in my native Boston. I worked closely with individuals navigating Read more
Tell us briefly about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I have extensive experience in the public sector, including leading Michigan’s Talent Investment Agency, which was responsible for implementing new strategies to expand effective workforce development opportunities. My passion for workforce development emerged from this experience. Joining Workforce Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I currently lead The Broad Foundation’s (TBF) pathways to good jobs portfolio, which provides youth and adults with the skills, social capital, and workforce training to secure family-wage earning employment. Before joining TBF, I led education, Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. My background has primarily been in college and career support through working with non-profit organizations and career and technical education. I worked in admissions at a technical college, navigating students not just through their next certification Read more