Strada Education Foundation: Bridging Education and Meaningful Careers

Strada Education Foundation, formerly known as Strada Education Network, is a national social impact organization dedicated to improving the connection between education and career opportunities. Established in 2014 following the transition of United Student Aid Funds, Strada leverages a multifaceted approach encompassing research, philanthropy, policymaker engagement, investments, and solutions to facilitate large-scale change. Based in Indianapolis, the organization has invested over $120 million in philanthropy and partnered with state policymakers and education leaders across the country to develop scalable models for education and workforce success.

Strada's Focus Areas

Strada’s work is centered around five key focus areas, each representing a critical dimension of the support, collaboration, and alignment needed to connect education to opportunity:

Clear Outcomes: Ensuring everyone has access to accurate information on employment outcomes to make informed decisions about postsecondary education.
Quality Coaching: Providing access to education-to-career coaching that helps individuals reflect on their talents and interests, choose a career goal, map pathways through education, and navigate challenges.
Affordability: Making quality postsecondary education accessible to everyone, with clear, predictable, and manageable costs.
Employer Alignment: Ensuring all students have access to programs that lead to quality jobs and mobility.
Work-Based Learning: Elevating new approaches to career coaching and work-based learning.

Research and Insights: Guiding Principles

Strada's research is human-centered and action-oriented, aiming to understand what learners need to realize their career goals and what employers need to identify and develop talent. This understanding is the foundation for creating more equitable education-to-employment pathways. The goal of Strada research is to help answer hard questions about postsecondary success and economic opportunity.

Strada’s research is at the heart of its work. It tests and provides evidence about promising solutions and supports the work of its education and employer partners. The research informs strategic priorities, guides mission-aligned investments and grantmaking, advocates for policy solutions that are nonpartisan and evidence-based, and builds evidence for education and employment pathways that are better connected and affordable for all current and future students.

The Strada Institute for the Future of Work conducts research that provides actionable insights on how to strengthen educational pathways that lead to economic opportunity and respond to the talent needs of employers. Its research focuses on the future of work, the future of postsecondary education and training, and talent-driven economic development.

Key Initiatives and Reports

Strada Education Foundation utilizes its research to develop key initiatives and reports that inform and guide stakeholders in the education and workforce development landscape:

State Opportunity Index (SOI): Designed to guide state progress in five focus areas, the State Opportunity Index helps states assess how well they are leveraging education pathways to strengthen workforce competitiveness and pathways to opportunity. Public institutions looking to improve student success and workforce readiness are encouraged to participate in the 2026 State Opportunity Index (SOI) Survey. The survey is being administered March 2 - June 5, 2026. The SOI Survey provides a data-driven framework designed to help policymakers, system leaders, and institutions strengthen the connection between postsecondary education and economic opportunity.
Talent Disrupted: This report uses a combination of online career histories of tens of millions of graduates, as well as census microdata for millions of graduates, to offer a comprehensive picture of how college graduates fare in the job market over their first decade of employment after college. In 2024, a Strada report named “Talent Disrupted” found that 52% of recent grads are underemployed, with 45% still so after a decade. First jobs shape long-term success, with STEM majors and internships reducing underemployment.
Building Better Internships: This report examines the latest findings from the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI), a survey developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions. Strada’s report, Building Better Internships, looks at the latest findings from the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI), a survey developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.

Strategic Partnerships and Investments

Strada Education Foundation actively forges partnerships and makes strategic investments to advance its mission.

HBCU Initiative

In 2021, Strada Education Network formed a partnership with 28 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The initiative is designed to elevate the transformative economic, social, educational, and cultural influence of historically Black colleges and universities. The partnership focuses on leadership development, scholarships, and financial support to defray the costs of internships, and building professional networks to help students begin their careers or explore graduate school options. Delaware State Univ. was selected for Strada Education Network HBCU Initiative.

Grant Programs

Strada supports colleges and universities through grant programs aimed at improving post-graduation outcomes for students from underrepresented backgrounds. In 2022, Strada and the Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity awarded grants to 15 colleges and universities to fund projects to improve post-graduation outcomes for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds; students who are low-income or first-generation; and students who have transferred or are working while at school. The different projects included expanding career services and support, incorporating career preparation into curricula, and improving student job outcomes. Later in 2022, Strada presented ten community colleges with grants through the Strada Education Network’s Employer and Community College Partnership Challenge. Surry Community College Received a Grant to Strengthen Employer Partnership with Northern Regional Hospital and Connect Learners with Opportunities. ASU, Rio Salado Community College got $1.5M grants. Seven recent grants totaling $8 million resulted from a competitive process that yielded hundreds of ideas.

Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator

In December 2023, Techstars announced it would relaunch the Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator. Strada Education Foundation returned as a partner to the program, and World Education Services joined as a new partner.

Work-Based Learning Initiatives

Strada partners with states, institutions, policymakers, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations to support proven work-based learning models that are responsive to changing workforce needs and students’ interests. Among the many approaches to work-based learning, internships and apprenticeships currently have the strongest evidence base for improving student outcomes. Paid student internships are recognized as a best practice that makes quality work-based learning experiences more accessible. By the numbers, 73% of graduates who completed a paid internship have a first job that requires their degree, compared to 44 percent of those who did not complete an internship, and 37% of seniors have completed a paid internship, which is linked to better career outcomes.

Strada developed the State Opportunity Index to help states measure their progress toward broadening access to paid internships, considered by many experts to be the gold standard for work-based learning. The 2025 State Opportunity Index showed that nationally, 26 percent of four-year students complete a paid internship by the time they graduate, while just 10 percent of community college students complete a paid internship. Graduates who completed a paid internship are much more likely to have a first job that requires a degree (73 percent), and are more likely to be satisfied with their first job and the progress they are making toward their long-term career goals. Through work-based learning, learners get access to a network, development of skills, and real-life work scenarios. No matter where they land next, it’s a tremendous benefit to them.

Examples of Strada's work-based learning initiatives include:

Council for Independent Colleges’ Work-Based-Learning Consortium: A partnership between independent colleges and an online experiential learning platform, is working to ease barriers and create more equitable and accessible work-based learning opportunities for students. The collaboration aims to integrate work-based learning opportunities into coursework.
Arizona State University's Work+ Collective: Through this initiative, more than a dozen institutions are injecting mentorship and career development skills into campus student employment. After piloting Work+ on its own campus, ASU is engaging with two- and four-year institutions across the country that are rethinking the impact student employment can have on working learners.
National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree: In a groundbreaking approach to college education, the National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree is redefining traditional pathways to success by combining paid, hands-on experience with academic learning through the Apprenticeship Degree - an accredited college degree, delivered through a new approach.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership recently introduced InternshipsVA. The initiative supports employers in Virginia by providing resources to help build internship programs that strengthen the talent pipeline and support retention. InternshipsVA helps Virginia employers build internship programs that reduce hiring risk, create a future talent pipeline, and strengthen retention. With step-by-step guidance, ready-to-use resources, access to student talent, and 50% matching grants for qualifying employers to help offset wages, InternshipsVA makes an internship program possible for businesses of any size.

Leadership and Team

Strada Education Foundation is led by a team of experienced professionals dedicated to its mission. Stephen Moret serves as President and Chief Executive Officer. In 2021, Strada hired Stephen Moret, who was credited with landing Amazon’s HQ2 in Northern Virginia and the Washington D.C. The leadership team includes individuals with expertise in research, philanthropy, policy, investments, and education. Ernest J. Newborn II is the Chairman of the board, Strada.

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Addressing the Challenges

Strada actively addresses the challenges facing postsecondary education and workforce development:

Underemployment

Strada's research highlights the issue of underemployment among recent college graduates. A Strada report named “Talent Disrupted” found that 52% of recent grads are underemployed, with 45% still so after a decade. To combat this, Strada emphasizes the importance of first jobs in shaping long-term success and promotes STEM majors and internships as strategies to reduce underemployment.

Affordability and Access

Strada recognizes the importance of affordability and access in ensuring equitable opportunities for all students. The organization supports initiatives aimed at making postsecondary education more affordable and accessible, particularly for underrepresented students.

Alignment with Employer Needs

Strada emphasizes the need for education programs to align with the needs of employers. The organization works to engage employers in the design and delivery of education programs, ensuring that students are equipped with the skills and knowledge that employers are seeking.

The Network Effect

Strada leverages a unique combination of research, philanthropy, policymaker engagement, investments, and solutions to help people connect their education to meaningful careers. The organization’s multifaceted approach, which it calls the network effect, enables Strada to facilitate large-scale change. Through its national engagement and philanthropic work, Strada has invested more than $120 million in philanthropy and partnered with state policymakers and education leaders across the county to develop scalable models for education and workforce success. Finally, Strada’s network is home to a group of affiliate organizations and mission-aligned investments.

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