WASHINGTON, September 19, 2016 -- Excelencia in Education today announced $1.5 million in grants from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation and Lumina Foundation to expand strategies that accelerate Latino student success in higher education.

Great Lakes and Lumina have each awarded Excelencia $750,000 to advance awareness and implementation of effective, evidence-based practices that increase Latino student success. The grants will also support collaboration with leading Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to develop acceleration plans for Latino student college completion and work with Emerging HSIs to expand use of data and evidence-based practices to improve student success.

“Increasing Latino degree completion, while enrolling more Latino students in colleges and universities and closing the existing equity gaps in attainment, is the focus of this work. We value our ongoing relationship with Lumina and are proud to partner with Great Lakes for the first time,” said Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education.

Great Lakes education philanthropy aims to improve college access and completion rates for students of color, low-income students, and first-generation students. “We are pleased to support Excelencia in Education and believe investing in Latino student success will help level the playing field to secure a better future for all Americans,” said Amy Kerwin, Vice President – Community Investments at Great Lakes.

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. “This important collaboration highlights Lumina’s continued commitment to accelerate Latino student success in higher education as a key strategy to reach Goal 2025 and significantly increase the number of Americans with high-quality educational degrees and other postsecondary credentials,” said Tina Gridiron, a Director in the office of Lumina’s Chief Strategy Officer.