Urban Institute Opens Requests for Proposals for Student Upward Mobility Initiative 2024

The Urban Institute is pleased to announce the launch of the Student Upward Mobility Initiative. Schools are widely viewed as a key lever for economic mobility. Yet, we do not know enough about the PK–12 skills and competencies that boost students’ later economic mobility and how the student's context affects the development and impact of those outcomes. The mission of this multi-year initiative is to develop an understanding of the skills and competencies in PK–12 education that educators and policymakers can use to shape practices, programs, interventions, and broader systems change to support students’ upward mobility.

Through the 2024 request for proposals, the initiative is seeking proposals that develop new or improved PK–12 measures or that connect measures of PK–12 skills and competencies to economic mobility across the domains of academic achievement, “noncognitive” factors, health and well-being, social capital, and career preparation. The Urban Institute expects to fund $3 million in research grants, ranging from $50,000 to $500,000, through this year’s request for proposals. They are committed to building a broad and diverse field of education-to-economic-mobility researchers. 

Their request for proposals is now open. All interested applicants must submit a mandatory letter of inquiry by April 30 at 5:00 p.m. ET. You’ll find much more information at studentupwardmobility.urban.org. Questions can be directed to SUMI@urban.org.