For Immediate Release:
GENERATION HOPE RELEASES LESSONS LEARNED REPORT HIGHLIGHTING FINDINGS FROM INAUGURAL FAMILYU COHORT
WASHINGTON, D.C. — September 27, 2023 — Nonprofit Generation Hope announced today the release of “On a Journey for Families: Lessons Learned from Colleges Investing in Student Parents,” offering a comprehensive look into the insights and knowledge gained from its 2021-2023 FamilyU Cohort, which successfully concluded in July of this year. The report also outlines how the FamilyU Cohort enhanced the knowledge, skills, and effectiveness of student parent work at each of the participating institutions.
“There are more than 4 million parenting college students nationwide who deserve a higher education system that sees, values, and supports them,” said Nicole Lynn Lewis, Generation Hope Founder & CEO. “By listening to their voices and learning from their experiences, we have created a model that transforms colleges and universities into family-inclusive environments where they are more likely to graduate. This report isn't just a document; it's a testament to our unwavering commitment to breaking down barriers, transforming lives, and fostering a world where every student parent can achieve economic mobility."
Since June 2021, Generation Hope has worked with four teams of student parent champions from colleges and universities in the Washington DC metro region to enhance their supports for parenting college students through the nonprofit’s innovative technical assistance program, FamilyU. Compiling the post-cohort experiences of each institution and their respective fellows, “On a Journey for Families” shares insights on the FamilyU model and how it can be replicated nationwide. Key findings include:
Student parent work is racial equity work. 100% of the institutions that participated in the 2021 FamilyU Cohort reported applying an equity-driven student parent lens to policy development and evaluation as a result of participating in FamilyU.
Real change (nearly) always starts with student parent data and awareness. While most colleges and universities across the country have no idea how many of their students are parenting, all of the 2021 FamilyU Cohort institutions are now collecting students’ parenting status and disaggregating the data across the intersecting identities of race, marital status, gender, sex, and student classification.
Diversity of thought and representation are integral to creating systemic change. Each institutional team had representation from five key functional areas: financial aid, academic instruction, student services, institutional research, and facilities management.
Value the lived expertise of student parents. Each of the four institutional teams had a Student Parent Fellow, a current parenting student at their institution, working alongside them to identify opportunities to enhance the school's student parent work. This was a fully compensated position covered by Generation Hope.
Student Parent Champions are changemakers. 100% of the institutions reported identifying and engaging at least 25 new student parent champions across various departments by the end of Year 2.
A values-aligned movement enhances stamina. 92% of participants reported that an approach shared by a cohort member significantly benefited their institutional team.
While each institution is different, we still learn from one another. This cohort included 3 Minority Serving Institutions, 1 Predominantly White Institution, 2 Four-Year Universities, 2 Community Colleges, and 13 campuses across the mid-Atlantic region representing 25,000 student parents.
Passion can catalyze student-parent work, but committed staffing, funding, and resources are needed to sustain it.
While many colleges nationwide lack insight into the number of parenting students they serve, the 2021-2023 FamilyU Cohort institutions have undertaken the crucial task of gathering, analyzing, and utilizing data on student parenting. Notable accomplishments for each institution under the 2021-2023 FamilyU initiative include:
In the spring of 2023, George Mason University revised its admissions application to collect incoming students' parenting status. Roughly, 25,000 Mason applicants will complete this form each year.
Montgomery College installed 58 additional changing stations in restrooms located throughout its three campuses.
Northern Virginia Community College created and launched a Title IX website accessible to its nearly 70,000 students, offering an extensive range of information and support resources tailored to parenting and pregnant students.
Slated to open in Fall 2023, Trinity Washington University designed a family-friendly student area in the library intended to offer secure environments for families to gather, study, and foster a sense of community.
To read the full “On a Journey for Families: Lessons Learned from Colleges Investing in Student Parents, please visit www.generationhope.org/on-a-journey-for-families-lessons-learned-2023
Media Contacts
Brionna Miller
973-861-3554
brionna@whitpr.com
Amani Saleem
862-763-6502
amani@whitpr.com
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About Generation Hope
To ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility, Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming. @supportgenhope