Hispanic Scholarship Fund – Economic Impact and Workforce Studies

Challenge

Established in 1975, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) is the nation’s largest nonprofit dedicated to increasing college graduation rates among Latinx families in the US. In addition to its dedicated scholarship fund, the organization operates a broad range of outreach and education programs in support of this goal, including its Generation 1st Degree initiative which focuses on closing the gap between Hispanic students and their peers. The goal of the initiative is to add more than 14 million new Hispanic college graduates by 2025.

Response

In support of its mission, HSF worked with TIP Strategies on multiple projects between 2010 and 2012. Initially, TIP assisted HSF in quantifying the economic impact of raising educational attainment rates in the Hispanic community. This analysis, which was presented at the 2010 HSF Educational Summit in New York City, highlighted the potential difference in lifetime earnings and federal tax revenues that would result from meeting the organization’s goal of helping at least one person in each Hispanic household earn a college degree. Building on this foundation, TIP completed two additional studies in 2012 designed to help HSF improve outcomes by aligning their scholars programs with the needs of employers. The first study, College to Career: Matching Scholars Programs to Workforce Demand, profiled the occupations and industries that would demand the most college graduates nationally and cataloged the fields of study that most closely link to these high-growth jobs. As part of the analysis, TIP created profiles for seven of HSF’s largest markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. This work was followed by an analysis of high-demand occupations and related educational offerings in four regions in Georgia in support of the Georgia Opportunities Scholarship & Outreach Program, a collaboration with HSF funded by The Goizueta Foundation.