The Detroit College Access Network, DCAN, is a true partnership of key players in college preparedness in the Detroit metro. The organization brings together a network of like-minded leaders and organizations from across K-12, higher education, philanthropy, nonprofit, business, government and community-based organizations with the shared goal of improving college enrollment and graduation rates for all Detroit students.
Previously, each organization DCAN worked with used a different method of tracking its data. Information was spread out everywhere, making data-informed decision-making a challenge.
DCAN needed a CRM with versatility and adaptability, a system that reflected the diversity of the organizations working together to expand college access and success in their community.
At National College Access Network 2024, DCAN was introduced to CoPilot – College Possible’s industry-leading information system built on Salesforce that provides student-support professionals with comprehensive insight into the academic, financial and social well-being of students.
“We had these really intense conversations about what we wanted and what goals we were looking to meet. CoPilot is an all-encompassing database, and its flexibility brought so much added value, ” says Jasmine Brooks, senior director of community hubs at DCAN.
During the implementation phase, each new partner was assigned a customer service manager who served as a guide for every step of the process. For DCAN, that was Craig Mills. Mills met with Brooks to understand DCAN’s needs and priorities and build customized dashboards, reports and processes.
“After learning more about DCAN’s goals and operation, we decided to add a few integrations like Mogli and FormAssembly to our CoPilot setup,” says Mills. With these integrations, DCAN can utilize text communications with students (via Mogli), and flows seamlessly into CoPilot with FormAssembly.
FormAssembly allows students to enter their own information, creating a new interaction opportunity between staff and students. These interactions have empowered students and provided them with a new perspective on data.
“It’s exciting to help our students see data as their friend,” says Brooks. “The numbers and information tell their story in a way that is not negative. Instead of data downplaying school attendance, the demographics that they’re living in or the services that they’re utilizing, CoPilot shows them their progress,” explains Brooks. “They’re empowered to track it, to own it, to live in it and then set goals that we can help them accomplish.”
The ability to customize CoPilot to meet their unique needs was key for DCAN.
“We’ve tailored this experience for students, families and school partners,” says Brooks. “It’s been really exciting to give feedback on what we’re looking for and watch the customization come to life.”
CoPilot has enabled the team at DCAN and its collaborators to make data-informed decisions, ranging from one-on-one interactions between school counselors and students to wide-ranging policy decisions for government officials, and everything in between.
“Co-Pilot has been an amazing resource, providing funders with a dashboard and overall understanding of our data as we work to hit our goal of reaching 5,000 Detroit residents with post-secondary education support and resources,” says Brooks.
“You are in the trenches working with the students, working with your schools and community partners,” says Brooks. “It makes it much easier to have a trusted partner meeting us in the middle so we can take our programming and data management to the next level.”
College Possible, one of the nation’s largest college access and success organizations, developed CoPilot to give partners like DCAN access to evaluative tools grounded in 25 years of experience supporting students’ college success.
College Possible has been empowering first-generation students and students from low-income backgrounds to achieve their college dreams. Since 2000, the organization has supported nearly 100,000 students through coaching, financial aid guidance, and unwavering mentorship—helping them turn the impossible into possible.
Watch an interview with Jasmine of DCAN to learn more about how CoPilot brought data to life and empowers students.
