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The institute was created in 2017 as a collaborative effort among Tri-C faculty, administrators and staff to address widespread poverty among students and the community. Community colleges and public colleges and universities are central to the aspirations of youth from under-resourced or poor families, and many of them attend these institutions. The students, as well as their families and communities, expect college to increase their economic mobility and create a pathway from poverty to the middle class. However, as Raj Chetty's landmark study demonstrated, many students from poor families remain poor many years after attending college. The problem is national but also local — there are large numbers of under-resourced students at Northeast Ohio colleges and universities who are not substantially improving upon their parents' incomes.

There is a pressing need for evidence-based strategies to change the educational and career trajectories of under-resourced students. Most under-resourced students attend community colleges, but they are under-researched and under-resourced. Research on community college students has increased over the past two decades, and several organizations conduct multisite studies to inform community college policy. However, we need to conduct much more research on the characteristics and experiences of community college students. In their content analysis of education journals, Gloria Crisp, Vincent Carales and Anne-Marie Núñez write that community college "student pathways through college remain a virtual black box, severely limiting our ability to identify effective student supports and other strategies…" (2016, p. 768). The institute was created to accelerate better outcomes for under-resourced students by opening that black box, producing the necessary knowledge base, and helping institutions translate knowledge into effective programs and policies.

Longitudinal Study of Educational and Economic Outcomes for Community College Students

Under-resourced students earn less money than their better-resourced classmates 10 to 15 years after they start college. We asked, "Why?" and "How can we change this inequity?" By tracing educational histories and outcomes for community college students over a 19-year period, we discovered that under-resourced students are unlikely to earn a college degree, even when they're doing well in their classes. Our research focuses on identifying and removing impediments to degree completion among under-resourced students.

Basic Needs Insecurity, Use of Support Services and Student Persistence Among Community College Students

The institute conducted three surveys between 2018 and 2020 and again in 2025 to determine Tri-C students' experiences with poverty-related challenges. Students were asked about their access to adequate food, housing, transportation, child care assistance, their use of the College's support services, and their intentions to persist in their education. Findings indicate that basic needs insecurity is related to a lack of persistence, but not all students use available supportive resources. Interventions to improve support and access to services have been or will be piloted.

Social Capital: Students' Interpersonal Supports for College and Career Success and Related Student Outcomes

The institute has conducted a series of studies that examine who community college students turn to for help with academic concerns, accessing support for basic needs and developing their career goals. We have examined the relationship between students' family income, their parents' education and their access to interpersonal support. Ongoing research tracks their ability to get help with college and their career, their grades, their academic self-efficacy and their optimism about their occupational future.