Boost for Public Data Systems as Coleridge Initiative Scales Up Work

Growth Campaign to Support Major Strategic Goals

NEW YORK , Oct. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Coleridge Initiative is pleased to announce the expansion of its work with government agencies to leverage data to address complex issues, improve public decision-making, and improve the lives of students and workers across the country. To make this expansion possible, Coleridge is launching a $15 million fundraising campaign. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed to match the first $6 million of this campaign to strengthen Coleridge's organizational capacity and accelerate growth to support the use of data to inform better policy.

To support government data systems, Coleridge provides a platform to securely link data within and across government agencies, and trains staff in data literacy, all while protecting privacy and ensuring data laws are followed. These systems help agencies track educational attainment, gain insights into the economic mobility of adult learners, and help ensure that educational programs are aligned and position students to succeed in today's global economy. 

With the launch of a major growth campaign and the support of additional data and infrastructure funders, Coleridge will be able to strengthen organizational capacity, sustain technological leadership, accelerate growth and impact, expand the reach of its services, and enhance training and product adoption.  

"We have progressed from our successful initial stages of development to become a thriving and dynamic organization. Our operations have expanded significantly, demonstrating measurable impact," said Ahu Yildirmaz, President and CEO of Coleridge Initiative. "This initiative will bolster our ability to utilize data in addressing complex challenges and driving evidence-based public decision-making."

Currently, Coleridge offers a number of core programs to its government partners. Coleridge's Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF) is a secure, cloud-based environment that makes it possible for researchers to develop data models, allowing government agencies to review and analyze their K-12 and workforce data to answer key questions on student outcomes that were previously not possible. 

The Democratizing Our Data Challenge (DDC) enables government agencies to scale and replicate data products, such as tools tracking state unemployment insurance statistics or dashboards tracking student outcomes from education to the workforce. The DDC builds a community of practice around the use of administrative data for the public good, where teams gain knowledge that can benefit other teams within their respective DDC cohorts.

Through the Applied Data Analytics Training Program (ADA), Coleridge provides applied data analytics training to enhance the data literacy of government agency employees so that they can better use and understand their administrative data.

"This grant and our continued fundraising effort will allow us to expand these programs by reaching more states, offering more virtual, on-demand training opportunities, and strengthening our internal capacity to support the development of more innovative solutions, like the ADRF, for public data systems," said Yildirmaz. 

About The Coleridge Initiative, Inc.

The Coleridge Initiative is a nonprofit organization working with governments to ensure that data are more effectively used for public decision-making. Coleridge provides agencies with the opportunity to enhance their workforce data literacy and collaborate within and across states to develop new technologies through the secure access and sharing of confidential microdata. Coleridge's secure data hosting platform, the Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF), is a FedRAMP-certified environment that enables government agencies to link their longitudinal data with other states and agencies. Learn more: www.coleridgeinitiative.org 

CONTACT: Johana Caba, [email protected]

SOURCE Coleridge Initiative