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The Educate & Elevate Foundation is dedicated to expanding opportunities for adult learners and their families and strengthening the local programs that support them. Through research, scholarships, grants, awards, and strategic investments, the Foundation helps remove barriers to education, employment, and economic mobility while empowering adult education programs to better serve their communities. Working alongside the adult education field, the Foundation is committed to creating pathways to lifelong learning and lasting success.
Essential Education
Legacy Pioneer Scholarship
Up to $1,000
Scholarship grants are awarded to first generation family members of adult learners to attend community college, university, or receive credentials. The post secondary provider must be an accredited program. The adult learner and the family member must be members of COABE. Applications are open until 7/31/26, and winner will be announced on 8/10/26.
Essential Program
Local Enrichment Fund
Up to $1,000
Supplemental grants are provided to local programs that demonstrate a need to be consistent with providing excellent programming to adult learners. Your local program must participate in the Move Ahead with Adult Ed campaign ($25 enrollment fee). This also enables your program to apply for the Excellence in Local Programming Award ($2,000 value).
Eligible applicants must be currently enrolled in or recently graduated from a local adult education program that is a current local program member on the Move Ahead with Adult Ed campaign. For the purpose of this fund, an emergency is defined as a financial hardship within the academic school year, such as a medical issue, child care, transportation issue, or an emergency such as fire, flood, unexpected death, victim of a crime and the like. COABE also provides scholarship funds to first generation family members of current enrolled or recently graduated adult learners not to exceed $1,000. Scholarships may support tuition, books, and course fees. Funds will not be paid toward debts/owed payments. Funding is provided to adult learners, their family members, and local programs that have current membership in COABE.
Through the generous work of the Educate and Elevate Foundation which was established, in part by seed funding provided by Essential Education, we hope to help offset challenges to sustained learning by providing just-in-time supplemental grants and scholarships to adult learners, their families, and their local programs.