Collaborative Projects
Yes We Must is a coalition of smaller institutions of higher learning that focuses in a particular way on the needs of at-risk and underprepared students, most of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds of one kind or another. Engagement with Yes We Must colleagues is invariably student-focused, hands-on, and collaborative. I found the relationships shared with other members to be highly satisfying and most productive. Most importantly, Yes We Must members don’t just talk! They collaborate to ensure their students’ success. They walk the talk!
Daniel Lowery, Past President, Calumet College of St. Joseph
ONLINE CONSORTIUM: THE WHEEL This Consortium, hosted and supported by the platform Acadeum, allows students at any member institution to take online courses offered by any other member institution. The student pays regular tuition at the enrolling institution, which pays $540 per 3-credit course to Acadeum for the teaching institution. The Consortium enables member institutions to share academic resources and infrastructure. Collaborative planning of course offerings and consortial majors/minors is under discussion. Support for low-income students: speed time to completion through course availability; online courses taught by faculty attentive to students’ needs to increase success. Find more info on The Wheel here >
WORKSHOPS Workshops are two-session events led by a subject expert that bring together teams of 2–6 college personnel from member institutions and aligned schools to engage in learning and action-oriented planning for developing equity initiatives. Teams complete a pre-workshop worksheet that heightens their readiness and are asked to complete an assignment in between sessions that applies learning. Workshops foster cross-institutional sharing and relationship-building, which may be continued through a Community of Practice on the workshop topic. Member fees for workshops are reduced. To see past workshop topics, click here to go the Meetings/Workshops page →.
FREE WEBINARS The Coalition hosts periodic webinars on topics related to increasing success for low-income students, often presented by representatives from member schools. To view past webinars, click here to go to the Publications/Webinars page →.
PRACTICES EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER The newsletter is open to contributions from any member institution and is a way to share best practices among YWMC membership and to introduce member schools to each other. To see past issues, click here to go to the Publications/Webinars page →.
CURRICULAR COLLABORATION Member schools share curricular approaches and resources to ensure that their students can have robust opportunities, experience other faculty perspectives, and interact with diverse peers across the U.S. Several members are now building programs together, with the assistance of Acadeum, in order to provide students with currently marketable degrees that individual schools cannot provide by themselves and to revive previously shelved programs that were under-enrolled..
The YWMC has been invaluable for both Blackburn’s administrative offices and faculty. For example, in addition to valuable conversations with administrative peer counterparts, faculty have discussed curricular improvements and sharing within both justice education and Criminal Justice majors. Science faculty developed a collaborative academic S-STEM grant to the National Science Foundation. Additionally, the courses sharing consortium, The Wheel, has allowed Blackburn to more efficiently and cost-effectively move off-sequence students to timely graduation. John McClusky, Former Provost, Blackburn College
OPEN COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE MEETINGS Open to all member faculty, staff, and administrators, CoPs meet periodically each year and are dedicated to discussions of current strategies and insights that help students from poverty be successful in their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. Current CoPs are Equity (identifying and changing structures, policies and practices that privilege some students and create barriers for others), Affordable Texts/Open Educational Resources, Credit for Prior Learning, Opening Doors to Incarcerated Students, Trauma-Responsive Campuses, Transfer Student Success, Preparing Students for the Workforce, Re-envisioning College Composition, Supporting Neurodiverse Learners, and Admission and Financial Aid Models for Low-Income Students.
COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS Members are invited to join colleagues who share similar commitment to serving low-income students in the context of institutions with limited human and financial resources. Recent topics have included Supporting BSN Students from Low-Income Backgrounds, Strategic Summer Residence Hall Use, Supporting Title III TRIO Applications, and Academic Restructuring for Equity and Vitality.
ASCENDIUM EDUCATION GROUP GRANT Nine member institutions are receiving support to intentionally integrate career preparation into 4-year degree programs and to adopt new curricular and co-curricular strategies to better align the student’s educational experience with career readiness. Grant participants, visit HERE to access grant-related resources and information with your log-in credentials.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION S-STEM Four member schools collaborated on the implementation of this multi-year grant to provide multiple supports for low-income students to persist in science majors to graduation and to careers in STEM fields. Find more info on the National Science Foundation S-STEM here.
STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM This program allows students enrolled at member schools to spend time on the campus of another member school in a different geographic and cultural setting while receiving the personalized support they have at their home institution. Support for low-income students: an opportunity to explore a new learning environment on a welcoming campus at a low cost. Find more info on the Student Exchange Program here. →