CAER: A New Community Partnership Resource Portal for Adult Education

The Program of Practice

Adult education programs across the country, including ours in the Ventura County Adult Education Consortium, are facing significant funding challenges, particularly due to cuts in federal funding sources. These reductions directly impact the ability of adult schools to provide programming as well as comprehensive services to their students. Faced with these financial constraints, there was a pressing need to identify alternative resources that could supplement and support the vital work of adult education institutions.

The Response

In response to these challenges, we developed an innovative strategy we're calling CAER (California Adult Education Resources) to leverage untapped resources within our local communities: nonprofit organizations with independent funding streams. The catalyst for this approach was our successful partnership with the local Assistance League, whose support allowed our adult students to access critical vision care services such as eye exams and eyeglasses. Recognizing the potential to develop this model, we initially created a resource for the Ventura County Adult Education Consortium to help member schools identify similar nonprofit partners.

It was fairly easy to then scale statewide, expanding access for every adult school in California. We did so by integrating ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer API (which enabled us to identify all 501(c)(3) nonprofits within the state that possess their own funding) together with a portal software called Softr. The CAER platform allows every adult school principal and director in California to securely log in and view nonprofits in their geographic region who might serve as potential collaborators. Here is the link to CAER: https://caer.softr.app/

The Unique Features of the Program

CAER promotes an asset-based approach to community development by encouraging adult schools to build relationships with nonprofit organizations already embedded in their communities.

A key innovation of this system lies in its simplicity, scalability, and accessibility. Principals and directors do not need to manage passwords; instead, they enter their email and subsequently receive a secure link via email which grants them access to the platform. This email-based authentication system ensures both ease of use and secure access.

Another unique feature is the integration of up-to-date nonprofit data from ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer API, combined with custom filtering to display only active, independently funded 501(c)(3) organizations. This targeted information allows school leaders to strategically identify potential partners whose missions align with adult education, fostering meaningful, localized collaborations. They can even see how much funding the nonprofit has, which is publicly available data.

The Outcome

The outcomes from this initiative have been both immediate and impactful. Our partnership with the Assistance League serves as a model for how these collaborations can directly benefit students. For example, one student’s vision condition was identified and treated as a result of this partnership — a story which was even featured on a KCLU public radio story: https://www.kclu.org/local-news/2023-11-20/she-had-glaucoma-but-didnt-know-until-it-was-spotted-during-a-vision-test-offered-to-adult-students

This statewide platform aims to empower countless adult school leaders across California to pursue similar partnerships in their own communities. While quantitative data will be collected as the program rolls out, initial data strongly suggests that this tool has the potential to foster new connections that support vulnerable adult learners while mitigating the financial pressures facing adult education programs.

[Attached is a screenshot of CAER, filtered down to just the Assistance League nonprofit chapters in the area nearby Moorpark Adult School. We are happy to provide a virtual tour of CAER.]