2025 Collective Impact Report
Lead | Equip | Empower
COABE collaborates at the national, state, and locals levels to provide leadership, professional development, communication and advocacy to adult learners, educators and administrators. This report highlights the fields' extraordinary efforts and successes through 2025.
Lead
Awards, incentive grants, and scholarship: We recognize and elevate excellence across the field by providing a premier national platform for teachers, administrators, learners, workforce partners, advocates, researchers, state associations, and local programs. This year, twelve prestigious awards were presented, along with two incentive grants and one scholarship.
Advocacy
Leading the field and promoting adult education: Staff and board participated in more than 50 education and workforce events nationwide, including an invitational international convening in Madrid, Spain, focused on the PIAAC assessment. COABE also led Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, mobilizing more than 130 advocates from across the country and hosting a standing-room-only legislative briefing that called for greater investment in adult education—America’s hidden talent pipeline.
State Association Leadership Institute (SALI): Provided state-of-the-art training and funding to every state, empowering associations to build capacity, advance professional development, and showcase excellence in leadership. This nationwide support enabled all 50 states to participate in our Flood the Hill event in Washington and/or host a state legislative day, amplifying advocacy for adult education. SALI also invested in state association staff, strengthening nonprofit management skills and ensuring sustainable leadership that drives lasting impact in communities across the country.
2025 Award Winner
Equip
COABE Conference: Designed and hosted the world’s largest adult education conference in Dallas, Texas, bringing together over 4,300 teachers, administrators, learners, workforce partners, researchers, funders, and vendors in a hybrid format. Attendees accessed cutting-edge professional development and explored the latest trends shaping the field of adult education. The first Students as Leaders Summit brought together 278 learners in person and over 1,200 learners through online watch parties.
COABE offers over 38 professional development webinars annually actively engaging over 21,000 registrants on cutting-edge topics, led by presenters rated among the very best at our national conferences. By bringing top-tier expertise directly to educators, administrators, and practitioners across the country, these webinars empower the field to innovate, grow, and transform adult education. Generous support from our leading partners makes this vital learning accessible to all.
COABE's Journal, The Resource for Adult Education, is a peer-reviewed publication designed to inspire and inform adult educators nationwide. In a special edition co-published with the National Governors Association, COABE highlighted the pivotal role governors and state leaders play in advancing adult education through innovative policies, strategic investments, and cross-sector partnerships. Showcasing state-level leadership at its best, this edition features coordinated approaches that connect adult learners to education, training, and meaningful pathways to quality employment—demonstrating how strong leadership transforms lives and strengthens communities.
This year, COABE partnered with NCCER to fund 25 local programs that launched innovative construction education training initiatives. Each program provided NCCER’s Core: Introduction to Basic Construction Skills, OSHA-10, and hands-on introductions to carpentry, plumbing, HVACR, or electrical trades. By equipping adult learners with these high-demand skills, the initiative opens doors to meaningful careers, strengthens the workforce, and supports pathways to family-sustaining wages, transforming both lives and communities.
Empower
COABE’s revitalized Ambassador Program certifies new ambassadors every month, empowering adult learners to lead transformative change in their communities and the field of adult education. Tailored specifically for adult learners, the program combines a flexible, self-paced, interactive format with practical, real-world leadership and advocacy training. Ambassadors join a nationwide community of more than 400 passionate peers, amplifying their impact and driving a movement that elevates adult education and opens doors for learners everywhere.
Credentials
COABE partners with technology leaders such as Google and IBM SkillsBuild to help adult learners earn a wide range of certificates that lead to family-sustaining careers. To date, learners have completed over 20,000 courses, and COABE continues to hold the distinction of Google’s Top Performing Partner. Building on this success, COABE partnered with eCornell this year to offer 20 certificate programs at no cost to adult learners through a social impact initiative supported by COABE’s Educate and Elevate Foundation—expanding access to high-quality education and empowering learners to advance their careers and transform their lives.
The COABE Online Entrepreneurship Institute for Adult Educators & Service Providers is hosted by the Economic Empowerment Institute is aligned with the U.S. Entrepreneurship Certification Examination, equipping adult educators and service providers with the content knowledge, instructional strategies, curriculum, and resources they need to successfully prepare adult learners to pass the U.S. Entrepreneurship Certification Examination.
COABE is empowering passionate activists and leaders to champion adult education and WIOA Title II programs through the State Advocates for Adult Education Fellowship (SAAEF). This immersive, yearlong program equips adult educators, learners, and supporters to engage policymakers, the media, and their communities—driving lasting change that transforms lives and strengthens adult education programs.
SAAEF shines a spotlight on the accomplishments of adult learners, elevates the profession, and helps secure increased funding for the field. Building on COABE’s award-winning national advocacy efforts, the program fosters a dynamic, nationwide network of skilled advocates who are making an impact in every corner of the country. Through this initiative, over 500 advocacy activities were carried out nationwide, including 34 gubernatorial and 111 mayoral proclamations celebrating adult education, demonstrating the power of grassroots leadership in advancing the field.
Podcasts
Advocast: The Advocast podcast continues to uplift the voice of advocates across the country.
EmpowerED: The EmpowerED podcast, new this year, showcases adult learner success stories that are profiled in our award winning, Educate and Elevate national public awareness campaign.
Behind Every Employer: The Behind Every Employer podcast focuses on the intersection of adult education and workforce, highlighting successful and innovative partnerships in both sectors.
Rise N Shine: The Rise N Shine podcast gives a platform to COABE members across the nation during Adult Education and Family Literacy Week as we lift our voice and raise visibility for our field.
Funding
Through the Educate and Elevate Foundation, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, the Barbara Bush Foundation, and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, and Grow With Google, COABE provided more than $800,000 of funding to the field.
INVEST IN ADULT EDUCATION TOUR
COABE’s Investing in Adult Education Tour united our efforts across 14 states and nearly 18,000 miles to shine a national spotlight on the power and promise of adult education. In partnership with state associations and state offices, our team traveled to urban, rural, and tribal communities—meeting face-to-face with program leaders, instructors, and adult learners whose stories illustrate the life-changing impact of this work. From Honolulu and Hilo to the Heartlands and the Southwest, each stop reaffirmed the incredible dedication of local programs and the critical role they play in strengthening families, communities, and the workforce.
Throughout the tour, we engaged with legislators and funders at the local, state, and federal levels to elevate the needs and successes of adult education. These conversations opened doors, built new champions, and deepened understanding of how essential WIOA Title II programs are to economic mobility and community resilience. Hearing directly from adult learners—many sharing their journeys publicly for the first time—brought powerful visibility to the transformational outcomes that occur when learners have access to high-quality instruction and supportive services.
Spanning 14 states and 17,935 miles, the tour included: Highlighting Hawaii (5,127 miles across two islands); Invest in the West / Midwest (5,308 miles across nine states); Southwest Voices (4,508 miles across Arizona and New Mexico); and Invest in the Heartlands (2,999 miles across Kansas and Oklahoma). Together, these visits created a unified national effort that strengthened relationships, elevated learner voices, and demonstrated COABE’s deep commitment to investing in the field of adult education. This collective journey not only amplified the stories of our programs and learners—it helped shape the future of adult education across the country.
