AzCAN Network Financial Support
College Access Challenge Grant
The purpose of the College Access Challenge Grant Program (CACGP) is to foster partnerships
among federal, state, and local governments and philanthropic organizations through matching
challenge grants that are aimed at increasing the number of low-income students who are
prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. The Arizona CACGP included
plans to expand a statewide college access network, issue scholarships to low-income students
seeking a college degree, support of Native American student college success, administration of
the EXPLORE test to Title I Arizona 8th graders by NAU GEAR-UP, and provision of sub-grants
to college access programs with a goal of increasing the quality and quantity of college access
services available to Arizona college-bound students.
www2.ed.gov/programs/cacg/index.html
National College Access Network (NCAN)/Kresge Foundation
Funding from the Kresge Foundation was adminstered by NCAN for the development of a
college access network in Arizona as well as in Southern California, New Mexico, Ohio, and
Texas as part of a $1.5M initiative. NCAN will provide technical assistance to the network
through 2013, the duration of the grant.
The Kresge Foundation is a private, national foundation that grants to small, mid-size and large
nonprofit organizations in the fields of health, the environment, community development, arts
and culture, education and human services. The Kresge Foundation works with their grantees
to improve the life circumstances and opportunities for poor and disadvantaged individuals,
families and communities. Sebastian Spering Kresge founded the Kresge Foundation in 1924.
www.kresge.org
National College Access Network
NCAN's mission is to build, strengthen, and empower communities committed to college
access and success so that all students, especially those underrepresented in postsecondary
education, can achieve their educational dreams. Incorporated in 1995, the National College
Access Network (NCAN), an organization classified as 501(c)(3) under the Internal Revenue
Service Code, grew out of the informal networking of people who were involved in the
burgeoning field of college access.
NCAN's current roster of members includes over 250 organizations, which are serving
thousands of low-income students and their families in 45 states, the District of Columbia,
Guam, Ontario, and Quebec. Geographically, they range from Massachusetts to California,
reaching out to young people in inner cities and rural communities.
www.collegeaccess.org