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SZCF IN PICTURES

For Jasmine Jones Hopewell, the work is not about For Jasmine Jones Hopewell, the work is not about creating excellence, it is about removing the barriers that prevent it from being seen.

Hear her reflect on access, equity, transportation, the digital divide, and the promise of early and middle college programs in this clip from our September Meeting the Moment webinar.

Watch the recording on our YouTube page, at link in bio.
Middle colleges offer more than college credit. Th Middle colleges offer more than college credit. They can also provide the relationships, structure, and sense of belonging that help students persist.

Hear Melissa Madigan, Executive Director of @dualworksofficial, explain why being known and supported can be transformational for students.

Watch the full webinar on YouTube, at link in bio.
Nationally, many first-generation college students Nationally, many first-generation college students face steep barriers to on-time graduation. Middle colleges offer a different pathway. One that combines high school, college coursework, and strong support systems.

Hear more from our September Meeting the Moment conversation on how middle colleges can help students access, experience, and complete college.

Watch the recording on YouTube at link in bio.
🏡 A home shouldn't be out of reach for the people 🏡 A home shouldn't be out of reach for the people who keep a community running. 

New research from @pewresearch shows the housing shortage is a major driver of poverty nationwide, and Colorado ranks among the 10 states where housing costs hit families hardest.

In rural Colorado, @ruralhomescolorado is changing that. Their homes are built in factories, set on donated land and kept affordable for good, so teachers, nurses and local workers can own where they work.

The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation® is proud to support them. Could this be a blueprint for your state?

Photo courtesy of @ruralhomescolorado
The Community College Research Center reports that The Community College Research Center reports that students from higher-income and college-educated families take college courses in high school at substantially higher rates than Black, Latino, rural, low-income, and first-generation students. A program built to open a door is being used most by the families already through it.

Middle colleges were designed from the other direction, starting with the students least likely to get there on their own.

Learn more at our September #MeetingTheMoment webinar on Sept. 29. Register on our website at link in bio. If you can't attend, we'll send you the recording if you register!

Source: @communityccrc dual enrollment policy brief, 2026
A diploma and substantial college credit at the sa A diploma and substantial college credit at the same time, often tuition-free. Three leaders who run these programs explain how it works.

Can't attend live? Everyone who registers gets the recording. Learn more + register on our website, at link in bio.
Middle colleges are often described in jargon, so Middle colleges are often described in jargon, so here is the model in plain terms.

It's a high school, and the campus is a community college. Students take high school and college courses on the same day, in the same place. They graduate with a diploma and substantial college credit, and in many programs the college tuition is covered!

The design is aimed at students the system usually loses, and the goal is not speed. It's finishing. 🏁

Hear how it works from three people who run these programs. Register on our website at the link in bio.
2.8 million high school students took college cour 2.8 million high school students took college courses last year. At community colleges, dual enrollment is now one in five students on campus.

Middle colleges take that idea all the way: an entire high school on a college campus, where the diploma and the credit are designed to arrive together.

Join us to learn more: September 29 at 12pm ET. Register on our website at link in bio.

Figures: Community College Research Center, 2023-24 data

#DualEnrollment #MiddleCollege #CollegeAffordability #StudentDebt #CollegeAccess #FirstGen #HigherEd #EarlyCollege
Thinking about starting an apprenticeship at your Thinking about starting an apprenticeship at your organization? 

Loyd Patterson is one year into running one at a 50-person solar company in South Carolina. His advice: you need one person whose actual job it is, or it gets lost in the busyness of business.

And if you do not have that person, partner with an organization that already runs a registered program and work under their umbrella. You are not required to build it alone.

Watch the full recording of our August Meeting the Moment webinar on our YouTube page at the link in bio.
🎓 A high school on a college campus. A diploma and 🎓 A high school on a college campus. A diploma and college credit earned at the same time. Often at no cost to the family.

Middle colleges are one of the most effective pathways in American education, and one of the least talked about!

On September 29 at 12pm ET, three leaders who run these programs sit down with Dan Wuori to explain how they work.

Free registration on our website at the link in bio.

#MiddleCollege #EarlyCollege #DualEnrollment #CollegeAccess #FirstGen #CollegeAffordability #EducationEquity #HigherEd #CommunityCollege #PublicEducation
You can be a registered apprentice at 16. While yo You can be a registered apprentice at 16. While you are still in high school.

South Carolina has roughly 7,000 registered apprentices right now. About 3,000 of them are 24 or younger, and a good share have not graduated yet.

And it is not a junior version. Amanda Richardson of @apprenticeship.carolina says a youth apprenticeship has to meet every requirement of any program registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. Same standard, same national credential, same wage progression. What changes is your age and where the classroom part comes from, whether that is your high school, a technical college, or the company itself.

The career does not have to start after graduation!

Watch the full webinar from our Meeting the Moment series on our YouTube page at the link in bio.
Instagram post 18015175226739484 Instagram post 18015175226739484
Most funding for workforce programs is not promise Most funding for workforce programs is not promised to anyone.

Amanda Richardson runs Apprenticeship Carolina, and her team connects employers to federal grants, state workforce dollars, and college scholarship funds. She also tells those employers to put their own money in, because outside funding runs out and a program built entirely on it does not last.

Full conversation on our YouTube page at the link in bio.
Join us this Friday, August 28, for Meeting the Mo Join us this Friday, August 28, for Meeting the Moment: How Apprenticeship Programs Strengthen the Workforce.

Moderated by Dan Wuori, this conversation will explore how apprenticeship models combine hands-on learning, employer partnerships, and career-connected training to expand opportunity and meet workforce needs.

Featuring Amanda Richardson of Apprenticeship Carolina / SC Technical College System and Loyd Patterson of Firefly Construction Group.

Register on our website, at link in bio.
How can apprenticeship programs strengthen the wor How can apprenticeship programs strengthen the workforce?

Join us this Friday, August 28, for a Meeting the Moment conversation moderated by Dan Wuori, featuring leaders from Apprenticeship Carolina and Firefly Construction Group.

Register on our website, at link in bio.
Apprenticeships offer more than job training. They Apprenticeships offer more than job training. They can create accessible pathways to career growth, economic mobility, and long-term workforce strength.

Join us for How Apprenticeship Programs Strengthen the Workforce, a Meeting the Moment conversation moderated by Dan Wuori and featuring leaders from Apprenticeship Carolina and Firefly Construction Group.

Friday, August 28 at 12pm EDT
Register on our website, at link in bio.
How can communities build stronger pathways from l How can communities build stronger pathways from learning to earning?

Our next Meeting the Moment webinar, moderated by Dan Wuori, will examine how apprenticeship programs help prepare workers for in-demand careers while supporting employers in building a skilled, resilient workforce.

Join us for a conversation with Amanda Richardson of @apprenticeship.carolina / SC Technical College System and Loyd Patterson of Firefly Construction Group.

Friday, August 28 at 12pm EST
Register at @saul_zaentz link in bio.
Join us for the next Meeting the Moment webinar: H Join us for the next Meeting the Moment webinar: How Apprenticeship Programs Strengthen the Workforce.

The conversation will explore how apprenticeship programs can create practical pathways into skilled careers, help employers meet workforce needs, and connect education, training, and opportunity.

Friday, August 28 at 12pm EDT
Register on the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation® website (at @saul_zaentz link in bio).
Charlie Barron, the first graduate of the Zaentz F Charlie Barron, the first graduate of the Zaentz Fellows Program at Stanford Graduate School of Education, is bringing her learning directly back to children and families as a Head Start lead teacher.

Her story reflects the promise of investing in early childhood leaders who connect research, policy, classroom practice, and community impact.
You can't erase words from the Declaration of Inde You can't erase words from the Declaration of Independence. But at the @americanwritersmuseum in Chicago, you can remix them.

Inspired by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith's erasure poem, the new exhibit Declarations: 250 Years of Writing Toward Independence hands you the pen, inviting you to reshape our founding document into something new. It's on view now through September 7 in the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation™ Mind of a Writer Gallery.

250 years in, the conversation is still going, and there's room for your voice.
Learn more in our newsletter, on our website at link in bio.
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