Helios Education Foundation

Kicking off Summer with new Xico art at the Helios Education Campus 🎨

Our Arizona staff and Campus partners had the pleasure of meeting the Xico Inc - Latin & Native American Arts Organization artists and exploring their latest work in the rotating exhibit around our Phoenix office ☀️

Arizona’s new state budget falls short of what our students, families, and employers need.

The FY2027 budget:
· Eliminates one-time funding for dual enrollment, Arizona Promise (above baseline), adult education/workforce programs, and 9th Grade On-Track.
· Cuts our public universities.
· Continues to provide no state operating support to Maricopa and Pima community colleges.
· Leaves out a modest $2 million to expand literacy coaching, even though Arizona Literacy Plan 2030 identifies coaching as a key strategy to improve reading outcomes.
· Adds no new ESA accountability measures, despite growing costs.

We are getting the education outcomes we are investing in. If Arizona wants higher reading scores, more students completing certificates and degrees, and a stronger workforce pipeline, we must align our budget with those goals.

Read our full response to the FY2027 budget and what it means for Arizona’s future: https://educationforwardarizona.org/we-are-getting-the-outcomes-we-invest-in/

What is it like to enter college as a freshman and a junior at the same time?

Download our latest report with FSU Anne's College to hear from these Florida college students directly: https://ow.ly/UoS150ZcQpq

Congratulations to the 2026 Adelante Scholars! We are honored to be a part of their journey 💛🎉

We can't believe it's been 20 years of the Helios Scholars at TGen This internship has trained more than 850 students, many of whom now work in Arizona’s biomedical, healthcare, and life‑science sectors 🏥🔬

Explore the history and success of this remarkable program: https://tgen.shorthandstories.com/helios-scholars-at-tgen-celebrates-20-years/

Today, and every day, we celebrate students at all stages in their higher education journey 🎓

Learn more about the importance of pursuing a postsecondary education in:
Florida ➡️ https://helios.org/research/floridas-future-billions/
Arizona ➡️ https://helios.org/billions-to-gain/

“I had the freshman struggles of adjusting to everything while also taking junior courses. So it was kinda just confusing [because] I was a freshman and a junior at the same time.”

Our latest research, developed with FSU Anne's College, explores how accelerated students experience college differently from traditional first-year students, according to interviews with students at four public universities in Florida.

Learn more via WLRN Public Radio and Television ➡️ https://www.wlrn.org/education/2026-06-02/florida-high-school-advanced-classes-college

We are honored to support Florida Philanthropic Network’s work to advocate for and communicate the importance of the census and civic participation to all Floridians.

Through generous support from the Helios Education Foundation and Census Equity Initiative, FPN completed a recent grant cycle to fund organizations working to raise awareness of the 2030 Census and Civic Engagement initiatives in hard-to-count communities.

Organizations awarded were all previous Florida Counts grantees and will participate in the Florida Counts Learning cohort. A total of $75,000 was distributed to 15 organizations. A special thanks to Sabeen Perwaiz of the Florida Nonprofit Alliance for joining the evaluation team.

We were honored to welcome a delegation of Florida leaders to the Helios Education Campus in Phoenix this week to explore the ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence 🤝

Thank you to the representatives of the University of Florida, UF Lastinger Center for Learning, Northeast Florida Education Consortium, Flagler Schools, and Florida Chamber Foundation for travelling across the country to learn how we use data to drive positive change and improve outcomes for students.

Special thanks to our ASU Helios Decision Center partners: Kyle Bowen, Jacqueline Smith, Whitney Marsh and Rebecca McKay.