Civic Ambassador community

The impact of low civic engagement on community colleges can be significant, affecting funding, enrollment, partnerships, advocacy, and community involvement. With reduced public support for education funding, community colleges may have fewer resources to provide necessary programs and services. This, combined with decreased awareness of the importance of higher education, can result in decreased enrollment. Low civic engagement can also limit the ability of community colleges to form partnerships with local organizations and businesses, reducing opportunities for students. Community colleges rely on advocacy to secure funding and resources, but low levels of civic engagement can hinder their ability to advocate effectively for their needs and priorities. In addition, low levels of civic engagement can limit community involvement in supporting community colleges' educational and workforce development efforts. To address these challenges, community colleges can engage with their local communities, build partnerships, and advocate for their needs and priorities.

A study of President Clinton’s Learn and Serve America Higher Education Program found that undergraduates who participated in community service had better short- and long-term outcomes in many cognitive and affective domains, including academic development, life skill development, and civic responsibility.

The solution is a digital community that anchored in the community colleges and providing academic program information, regional employer profiles, and promoting student ambassador pages to invite new members to learn about career pathways.  Community college students will be hired as ambassadors through funding from Campus Compact's College Renaissance Corp, and they will leverage digital marketing and social influencer best practices to promote the community. The student ambassadors will also offer skill-building workshops and experiences to other community college students and highlight industries that can drive local and national economic recovery, such as transportation distribution logistics, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and technology. The platform features a centralized community, comprehensive course catalog, and real-time occupational and labor market data, allowing students to define their own success and interact with professionals. The solution also provides a direct connection with employers and uses next-generation technology to help institutions address better student outcomes.

The solution serves multiple stakeholders, including community college students, regional employers, and community college faculty and staff.

For community college students, the solution offers a centralized platform that provides academic program information, regional employer profiles, and real-time occupational and labor market data. Students can use this platform to define their own success and interact with professionals from high-growth industries that can drive local and national economic recovery. The platform also provides opportunities for skill-building workshops and experiences through the student ambassador program, which will help students develop marketable skills and increase their chances of finding meaningful employment after graduation.

For regional employers, the solution offers a direct connection with community college students who are interested in pursuing careers in high-growth industries. Employers can use the platform to showcase their organizations and highlight job opportunities, which can help attract and retain talented employees.

For community college faculty and staff, the solution offers a comprehensive course catalog and real-time labor market data, which can help inform academic program offerings and curriculum development. The platform can also help institutions address better student outcomes by providing insights into high-growth industries and the skills that are most in-demand in the labor market.

Overall, the proposed solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of community college students, regional employers, and community college faculty and staff by providing a centralized platform that supports academic and career success. By leveraging digital marketing and social influencer best practices, offering skill-building workshops and experiences, and highlighting industries that can drive local and national economic recovery, the solution can help bridge the gap between education and employment and help promote economic growth in the region.

Irving Chin from Tassel Software and Eric Lugo, the Executive Director of the College Renaissance Corp are the technical and business leaders of this initiative.  

Irving has over 25 years building enterprise software applications, and is positioned to deliver this solution because of his extensive experience in talent management technology, particularly in developing community-based career development tools that prioritize mentorship and coaching. He has also founded Tassel Software specifically to create community solutions for community colleges, which demonstrates his understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by this environment. Additionally, Irving's focus on under-resourced students and economic mobility aligns with the goals of the project, and his use of student ambassadors funded by Campus Compact's College Renaissance Corp to promote career pathways aligns with best practices in digital marketing and social influencing.

Eric has extensive experience in workforce development, education, and civic organizations. He has worked as the Senior Advisor at City Colleges of Chicago, supporting the system’s innovation and economic mobility agenda, and has overseen advancement, community and legislative affairs, economic and workforce innovation, institutional branding and strategic marketing, and special initiatives.  Eric has also played a leadership role in securing over $30 million in new private and public resources for innovative initiatives, supporting scholarship distribution growth by 300%, launching a 5-year strategic plan with Chicago Public Schools, and building new credentialing programs to meet industry demand with leading technology companies.  Moreover, he has a background in global philanthropy and has designed and launched workforce initiatives. He has also been recognized for his exemplary leadership in the community and accomplishments in industry. Therefore, Eric's expertise in workforce development, education, and civic organizations makes him well-suited to deliver a digital community solution that helps community college students obtain economic mobility through highlighting high demand industries and offering skill-building workshops and experiences.

The Tassel Software application has been enhanced from an academic support platform to support the civic engagement use case.  The platform development has been completed with a target launch of September 2023 in the cities of Houston and Denver to support the College Renaissance Corp program.

The solution designed to support the launch of the College Renaissance Corp aligns with the objectives of the MIT Solve community. The platform will provide access to improved civic action learning by providing information on career pathways and industries that can drive local and national economic recovery. It can also help learners acquire civic skills and knowledge by offering skill-building workshops and experiences and promoting community-building opportunities. Additionally, the platform can enable learners to bridge civic knowledge with taking action by helping them understand real-world problems and organizing plans for collective action. Overall, the solution has the potential to deepen civic knowledge and practice collaborative problem-solving among learners, thereby aligning with the goals of the MIT Solve community.  

This year we plan to launch in 2 cities, Houston and Denver and look to onboard 5 more next year.  Supporting these launches and engaging an audience is critical and we believe MIT Solve can help us achieve this faster with the broader reach.  We hope to build key strategic partnerships in regional economic development organizations to build career pipelines and provide our ambassadors with more opportunities to document and promote regionally.

Tassel software solves the problem of connecting employers with community colleges to better provide impact in several ways.

Firstly, Tassel's platform offers real-time occupational and labor market data aligned to program offerings, enabling community colleges to better understand the skill sets and competencies that employers are looking for in job candidates. This can help community colleges to tailor their academic programs to meet the needs of local employers, which can lead to better job placement rates for their graduates.

Secondly, Tassel's platform enables students to directly connect with future employers, corporate partners, and peer graduates in the field. By connecting students with employers and industry professionals, community colleges can create more opportunities for their students to gain real-world experience and develop the skills that employers are looking for.

Finally, Tassel's platform offers a centralized community where students can interact with professionals and narrow their focus on a desired career path. By providing a platform for community colleges to connect with local employers, Tassel can help to create a more seamless pathway from education to employment, which can benefit both students and employers.

Our short term goals over the next year are to launch in 7 cities in the US, bringing together regional community colleges and their employer partners to support the community and facilitiated by 15 community college ambassadors per city helping to increase student enrollment and retention rates in community colleges.

Our 5 year goals for the community colleges on our platform are to

Reduce the percentage of students who take excess credits by providing students with clear program pathways and real-time occupational and labor market data through the Tassel platform.

Increase the percentage of students who are employed in their desired career field within six months of graduation by providing direct connections with employers through the Tassel platform.

Partner with 50 community colleges and 100 employers to provide comprehensive program mapping, scheduling, and registration through the Tassel platform.

Expand the Tassel platform to include additional features such as online career coaching, virtual internships, and micro-credentialing options to better prepare students for the workforce.

By partnering with the College Renaissance Corp, the launches in each city will be coordinated by CRC and drive adoption of the Tassel community platform.

Tassel can measure its progress toward impact goals in several ways, such as:

Student outcomes: Tassel can track and measure student outcomes such as graduation rates, time to degree, and job placement rates to determine if students are achieving their desired outcomes.

Employer engagement: Tassel can track and measure employer engagement by monitoring the number of employer partnerships established and the number of job postings made available through the platform.

Student engagement: Tassel can measure student engagement by tracking usage metrics such as logins, session duration, and the number of course searches and registrations.

Program effectiveness: Tassel can measure program effectiveness by tracking the number of students who successfully complete a program and the time it takes them to do so.

Feedback and surveys: Tassel can gather feedback from students, employers, and community college administrators through surveys and focus groups to determine how the platform is performing and where improvements can be made.

By regularly collecting and analyzing data on these metrics, Tassel can track progress toward its impact goals and make data-driven decisions to improve the platform's effectiveness.

By providing a comprehensive academic and career community platform, Tassel can help students define their own success and identify career paths aligned with their interests and skills.

By offering real-time occupational and labor market data, Tassel can better prepare students for current job opportunities and close the skills gap between the academic world and the workforce.

By connecting students directly with future employers, corporate partners, and peer graduates in the field, Tassel can help them find their passion and determine their pathway forward.

By streamlining the student journey and saving time and money for institutions, Tassel can enable tools that work simply for students and eliminate duplicative data efforts.

Tassel Software is a web community platform designed for people to connect with others who share common interests and engage in discussions or other activities. The platform is built using web technologies like React and Node.js.  React is a popular tool for creating the website's user interface, while Node.js is used to build the server-side of the website.  The platform allows users to create profiles, participate in discussions, and share information with other users. The platform also uses a database to store user information and discussion threads.  Overall, a web community platform built using React and Node.js is a modern and scalable website that can handle large amounts of data and user traffic while providing an engaging and responsive user experience.

Representation and Inclusion: Tassel can ensure that the platform and its resources represent and include a diverse range of learners, educators, and professionals, including individuals from different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. 

Equitable Access: Tassel can share with learners have more content regarding access to financial and academic support resources, regardless of their background or financial situation. This can include providing financial aid resources and connecting learners with scholarship opportunities to reduce financial barriers to education.

Culturally Relevant Content: Tassel can ensure that the platform's content is culturally relevant and responsive to the needs and experiences of diverse learners. This can include incorporating diverse perspectives and experiences into the curriculum and providing resources that reflect the cultural diversity of the community college learners.

Overall, by incorporating DEI into its solution for community colleges, Tassel Software can help create an environment that is inclusive and equitable, where all learners have access to the resources and support they need to achieve their academic and career goals.

The business model for Tassel's career community platform is based on a subscription model sold to cities and community colleges. The platform is cloud-hosted and web-based, and its development will be funded through grants from each city as part of the College Renaissance Corp initiative. Tassel will also be sold to participating community colleges to launch learning and academic communities specific to their own college programs and ambassadors. This approach allows Tassel to expand its customer base beyond traditional higher education institutions and tap into the market of local communities interested in supporting workforce development and career growth. Additionally, this model provides an opportunity for Tassel to generate revenue through partnerships with employers and other organizations interested in connecting with potential job candidates.

In terms of impact, the platform offers a comprehensive solution for students and professionals looking to build their skills and knowledge in a particular industry or field. By providing access to real-time occupational and labor market data, Tassel can help students make more informed decisions about their academic and career paths, reducing excess credits and shortening achievement gaps. The centralized community can also connect students with professionals in their desired career paths, giving them a direct connection to the industry and the potential for mentorship and networking.

In terms of revenue, Tassel's subscription-based model offers a steady stream of income from cities and colleges, ensuring a reliable source of funding to support the ongoing development and maintenance of the platform. Tassel's expansion into the market of local communities looking to support workforce development and career growth could also provide additional revenue streams.

Overall, Tassel's business model has the potential to provide significant value to the populations it serves, both in terms of impact and revenue. By offering a comprehensive platform for academic and career development, Tassel can help individuals achieve their goals and contribute to the broader economic and social development of their communities.

The Tassel Software product team is a lean agile product development team. The core platform can be sustained by selling to a minimum of 6 community colleges at $40,000 each paid annually.  The funding provided through the partnership with the College Renaissance Corp program will help sustain additional feature development until the team reaches a total of 6 community colleges.

Tassel is already live in 2 community colleges in CA, getting us 33% towards our goal of financial sustainability.