NOCHE and higher ed partners awarded prize

Staff report

AKRON

CEOs for Cities awarded a $1 million Talent Dividend grand prize to the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education and its Greater Akron higher-education partners Northeast Ohio Medical University, Kent State University, Hiram College, Stark State College and the University of Akron.

The award is in recognition of the region’s success in improving college-degree attainment.

The Talent Dividend Network and Prize is supported by The Kresge Foundation and Lumina Foundation. This is the grand prize for the biggest improvement in attainment in both two- and four-year colleges and universities in the nation. NOCHE accepted the award on behalf of the Northeast Ohio educational community.

The Northeast Ohio Talent Dividend is an initiative of NOCHE and has three goals: Increase college readiness, increase retention to degree completion and increase degree-attainment among adults with some college and no degree. The Northeast Ohio Talent Dividend is a regional program focused on college-degree completion encompassing four metropolitan areas—Akron, Canton, Cleveland and Youngstown.

“Increasing postsecondary access and attainment is critically important for the economy of Northeast Ohio,” said Robert Reffner, vice president and general counsel at FirstEnergy and NOCHE’s chairman. “We have seen projections that 64 percent of Ohio’s jobs will require some postsecondary education by 2020. What has been accomplished in Northeast Ohio is a huge step in the right direction. This is fantastic recognition for our region.”

The national Talent Dividend Prize is awarded to the metropolitan area that exhibits the greatest increase in the number of postsecondary degrees granted per one thousand population over a four-year period. It’s a one-time award.

“This is an important and well-deserved recognition not only of the Greater Akron region but also of Northeast Ohio,” said Lee Fisher, CEO of CEOs for Cities. “The Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown regions developed a unique collaborative agreement at the outset of this national competition that if one of the regions won, 30 percent of the prize would be shared across Northeast Ohio. This sends a great signal to the nation that Northeast Ohio understands the importance of both college completion and regional collaboration.”