With over half of jobs now requiring a postsecondary credential, college completion has never been more important. Yet it remains elusive for too many students -- especially students from low-income backgrounds, students of color and first-generation students. For 50 years, Great Lakes has focused on helping traditionally underserved students who have the most to gain from a college education -- yet often have the least support in getting there -- make their way to and through college. Our 2015 report highlights the three distinct and purposeful funding approaches we use in pursuit of this goal and details several grants we made over the past year.

Great Lakes 2014 philanthropy report details a $28.6 million commitment in grant funding over the past year to close the college completion gap faced by students of color, low-income students and first-generation students. The report highlights a variety of grants made to colleges, universities, community-based organizations and research initiatives that demonstrate promising approaches to getting more students to and through college. Great Lakes aims to learn which ideas will help the most students achieve the greatest results.

Great Lakes 2013-2014 philanthropy report details record $21 million in commitments. This past year Great Lakes dramatically increased its funding to help more students from low-income households, students of color, and students who are the first in their families attend and complete college. For the 2013-2014 academic year our commitments total $21 million, and are in excess of $100 million since 2006. This report tells more about our approach to philanthropy and the work we do to move more students toward college completion.

At Great Lakes we work to make postsecondary degrees, credentials and certificates accessible to as many students as possible. Specifically, we focus our philanthropy on helping those who traditionally have the most to gain from college, but who often have the least support in getting there: students from low-income homes, students of color and first-generation students.

This Report highlights our belief that overcoming barriers to graduation requires engaging both students and colleges—with success being their shared goal. In it you'll find details on many of the 50 grants we launched in 2016, several key findings and our goals for the coming year.

The Joyce Foundation's Shifting Gears initiative was launched in 2007 as a state policy change effort in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The goal was to strengthen adult basic education, workforce, and community and technical college systems so that more low-skilled workers gain the education, skills and credentials needed to advance and succeed in our changing economy.

The Joyce Foundation extended Shifting Gears funding from 2012 -- 2014 (referred to as SG 3.0) in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This report reached five primary findings:

• Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin doubled the total number of their bridge programs from 79 to 196 between SG 2.0 to SG 3.0.
• Each state effectively institutionalized its adult education bridge program as an ongoing option to address the educational and skill needs of low-skilled adult learners.
• In two of the three states (Minnesota and Wisconsin), important policy changes expanded financial resources available for adult education bridges, and created the foundation for further advancing adult education bridges.
• Scale was not achieved during this period in terms of serving many or most of the low-skilled adults who might benefit from bridge programs.
• The work of Shifting Gears positively influenced the national discourse on workforce development.