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The CPI Mid-Term Assessment provides insights from the first two years of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF)® Career Pathways Initiative (CPI). The authors derived insights from a comprehensive view of the experience of UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) and the network of institutions implementing the program. To facilitate continuous improvement, this assessment shares early insights that guide how the authors address the following questions through completion of the grant: (1) How can ICB's delivery of programmatic supports be refined?; (2) How can scale promising practices be willed across the three-pronged network-based approach?; and (3) How can current efforts to support student success be amplified? UNCF, ICB, and the CPI's ultimate goal is to increase student and workforce outcomes for low-income, first generation Black students and other students of color. This mid-term assessment is an important milestone for the program. Insights from this assessment will shape how UNCF will enhance the execution of the CPI program through the remainder of the grant period. It will also identify promising practices to inform transformative change at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), predominantly Black institutions (PBIs), and other institutions of higher education. The assessment covers the first two years of program implementation or the period from January 2017-December 2019. It is organized to provide insights from three critical components: program overview, early outcomes, and institutional highlights. The assessment ends with a summary of progress to date and path forward.

A college degree is increasingly vital for career mobility and economic success as more employers are requiring greater levels of education and credentials. For more than 150 years, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played a leading role in graduating black students and have made significant contributions to the workforce and economic vitality of the nation. A historically black college and university is defined as "… any historically black college or university that was established before 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of African Americans." There are 101 accredited public and private HBCUs located in 19 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While these institutions only represent 3 percent of the nation's colleges and universities, they are economic engines in both their regional communities and the nation, generating substantial economic returns annually. gional economies and how much graduates benefit in terms of increased earnings over a working lifetime. The study noted that every dollar spent on, and by, an HBCU and its students has a positive chain reaction in terms of heightened economic activity, increased job creation, and greater earning potential for graduates. At the national level, the study's key findings revealed that: (1) HBCUs annually generate 134,090 jobs and $14.8 billion in total economic impact for their local and regional economies; and (2) HBCU graduates from 2014 can expect total earnings of $130 billion over their lifetimes--56 percent more than they could expect to earn without their college degrees.