Innovative Strategies to Close Postsecondary Attainment Gaps: Building Collaborative Partnerships through the Stakeholder Engagement Process

Abstract

This report takes a deep dive into the southeast Indiana region to examine efforts by the Community Education Coalition (CEC) to connect regional leaders across sectors through a framework known as the Stakeholder Engagement Process. By intentionally engaging a diverse set of community stakeholders, CEC ensures that the collaboration pursues strategies and interventions that lead to educational and economic growth for all populations, including those who have been historically underserved. Following the interview portion of the guidebook, the authors provide a Stakeholder Equity Assessment Tool [on page 12] to enable other communities interested in forming similarly effective collaborations to apply an equity lens when identifying and engaging diverse community partners to collectively implement strategies to increase attainment in their region.