TG Public Benefit Grant Program
2011 TG Public Benefit Awards
Grantee: ANN RICHARDS SCHOOL FOUNDATION
Location: Austin, TX
Project Title: College Bound
Amount Funded: 121,131
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2014
The College Bound program will guide students through the entire college-entrance process: From choosing the right classes in high school to preparing and sitting for standardized tests to applying to colleges, each student's college search will be personalized to help the student and her family navigate the path to college admission. Staff will help students and families identify and apply for financial aid and scholarships to ensure that each student has the financial support necessary to pursue a college degree. Serving approximately 450 girls from 9th-12th grades, 64% are economically disadvantaged and 78% come from minority populations. TG funding provides support specifically for college advising, college retention followup, parental involvement, and college tours.
Grantee: ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Location: Washington, DC
Project Title: A Mixed-Method Analysis of
High-Impact Practices on Student Learning for Historically Underrepresented Students
Amount Funded: 129,331
Category: Educational Research
Award Year: 2011-2012
This project will examine data from universities across three state university systems to understand the impact of engaged learning on underserved populations. These are public university systems composed primarily of regional comprehensive institutions that receive large numbers of transfer students from community colleges. The study will involve gathering supplemental data from focus groups with students on selected campuses in California, Wisconsin, and Oregon; holding meetings with key stakeholders on these campuses; discussing the preliminary findings from the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE) data analysis; publishing a final report of findings for dissemination; and convening a one-day meeting with administrators and faculty leaders from the three systems to discuss the final report and improvement strategies. Researchers will publish print and web-based reports of the findings for dissemination to the Association's community of 1200+ higher education institutions. The Association will also hold a convening with administrators and faculty leaders from the three systems to discuss the final report.
Grantee: BOTTOM LINE
Location: Jamaica Plain, MA
Project Title: College Access and Success Programs
Amount Funded: 225,000
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Bottom Line helps disadvantaged students succeed by providing them with one-on-one guidance from the beginning of the college application process until college graduation. Through the College Success Program, students continue to receive support for up to 6 years during college in academic, career, financial, and personal areas. Bottom Line will expand during the next 2 years and provide services to more than 2,500 students in Boston, New York City, and Worcester, Massachusetts. TG funding provides for academic and personal counseling, student events, care packages, and data analysis and management.
Grantee: CAPITAL IDEA
Location: Austin, TX
Project Title: Steps to Success: Improving the College Performance of Low-Income Adults
Amount Funded: 200,000
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Capital IDEA lifts working adults out of poverty and into living wage careers through education. The Steps to Success project will support Capital IDEA's low-income healthcare students who are at the critical prerequisite level of their community college education. Approximately 80% of Capital IDEA's participants are working towards a degree or certificate in a high-paying, in-demand healthcare profession. This program will implement changes designed to increase retention such as: Reorganizing program staff so that career counselors can be devoted to healthcare prerequisite students; Providing more case management services; Working with the community college to set aside healthcare prerequisite classes for Capital IDEA students; Partnering with instructors to identify academic barriers early; and Improving the database to better track participants' performance at the prerequisite level. Primary beneficiaries are all low-income Central Texas adults. Over 80% of participants are from minority populations with an average age of 30. TG funding will support career counseling and provide $142,920 in need based aid. Approximately 350 adult students will be served by this project.
Grantee: CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE DISTRICT
Location: Killeen, TX
Project Title: Ready? Go!
Amount Funded: 252,940
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The Ready? Go! program serves the Greater Fort Hood area, helping all students in grades 9-12 and their parents understand the benefits of higher education and the steps necessary to prepare academically and financially for college. Funding will provide a summer intervention program for at-risk high school students through individual counseling, academic review, and mentoring. In addition, funding will be used to place one trained college readiness specialist in each of the seven high schools. As role models and mentors, these specialists will provide SAT preparation for high school juniors, financial aid advising, and parent outreach. Direct beneficiaries include 240 students, 240 parents, and 50 community mentors. The program will target Hispanic and African American males, and females interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Indirectly the P-20 program hopes to expand its reach to serve 26,000 students. TG funding will support one-on-one college readiness coaching, college tours, academic enrichment, and provide $35,000 in need-based aid for the college-age mentors.
Grantee: COLLEGE BOUND
Location: St. Louis MO
Project Title: Organizational Capacity Building
Amount Funded: 175,000
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
College Bound will engage an external evaluation (both formative and summative) of programs and services. Third-party data validates that College Bound's "whole student" approach is achieving successful outcomes among students from the highest risk backgrounds - both in access and persistence. What is not known, however, is the degree to which individual levers have the greatest impact. Benefits from an evaluation include ability to concentrate resources effectively, reach more students, attract more sustainable funding, and replicability of programs. Not only will College Bound and its students benefit from greater organizational capacity, but an audience of up to 170,000 people will be exposed to final evaluation results.
Grantee: COLLEGE HORIZONS
Location: Pena Blanca, NM
Project Title: College Horizons & Graduate Horizons 2012-2014
Amount Funded: 80,000
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
College Horizons will serve a new cohort of Native American high school and college students alongside volunteer counselors, Native American professional educators, and college admissions officers. The grant will directly support $80,000 in student aid, outreach to Native communities, and programming for retention/graduation followup. Of the Native high school students served by College Horizons, 85% have graduated college in 4-5 years. Current beneficiaries include 600 high school students, 250 college students, 500 University admissions officers, 200 guidance counselors, and 850 parents and siblings.
Grantee: CON MI MADRE...MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS RAISING EXPECTATIONS
Location: Austin, TX
Project Title: Con Mi MADRE
Amount Funded: 221,380
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Con Mi MADRE hosts mother-daughter College Readiness Conferences during the school year, along with school campus meetings for girls. Activities address topics such as peer pressure, self-esteem, goal setting, and financial literacy. College Academies provide girls with an adult mentor who helps them through the college application process and workshops to address selecting the appropriate college, college essay writing, FAFSA, and scholarship applications. Parent-focused support includes a Parent/Family Engagement Series addressing topics related to raising teenage daughters. Con Mi MADRE graduates stay connected through the Alumni Program where girls who are now attending college and their mothers attend workshops in June and December. Con Mi MADRE also offers college scholarships, financial assistance with college application and entrance exam fees, leadership development, college visits, individual/family counseling and case management, and mentoring. TG funding provides assistance in all of these categories and $27,400 towards need-based aid. Between 320-420 girls and their parents will be served each year.
Grantee: CREATIVE KIDS
Location: El Paso, TX
Project Title: Project ABLE: Art Brokers Learning Experience
Amount Funded: 198,500
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Project ABLE is a comprehensive visual arts education program that integrates state-of-the-art technology, social entrepreneurial business skills, leadership training, and mentoring, as well as integrating internship assignments. A component to this program is in partnership with El Paso Community College (EPCC) and their newly established Cotton Valley Early College High School in Fabens. The program targets 80 disadvantaged "at-risk" youth ranging in age from 12-18, whose parents are seasonal migrant farm workers that live in Fabens, Texas. TG funding is specifically for art instruction and supplies.
Grantee: DEACONESS FOUNDATION / ST. LOUIS REGIONAL COLLEGE ACCESS PIPELINE
Location: St. Louis, MO
Project Title: Organizational Capacity Building
Amount Funded: 49,900
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
The St. Louis College Access Pipeline (CAP) is launching the region's first-ever College Access & Success Professional Development Institute. St. Louis needs a well-trained workforce of college access & success professionals to lead its students. CAP envisions that the Institute will offer targeted training in best practices for promoting college access and success to three distinct subsets of practitioners: high school personnel need training to help establish college-going and college success cultures in their schools; staff at nonprofits need guidance in assisting their teens in navigating the college pathway; and higher education professionals need training that can support their retention efforts. Beneficiaries of the professional development institute funding include 250 professionals who will receive training and outreach.
Grantee: DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
Location: Denver, CO
Project Title: Improving College Persistence for Low-Income, First Generation Students
Amount Funded: 242,072
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
This project will expand the successful Institutional Support Grant (ISG) retention program piloted at Colorado State University — Pueblo (CSU-P), a school where Denver Scholarship Foundation students have struggled to succeed. First to second year retention rates for DSF Scholars have increased from 52 percent for the 2008 cohort to 79 percent for the 2009 cohort as a result of the ISG program. Funding will allow DSF to build upon the initial success of this program to impact more students. Activities funded included a first year seminar, peer mentoring, intensive academic advising, college success workshops and a living/learning community. Beneficiaries will be 80-95 scholars from low-income, primarily minority backgrounds.
Grantee: EDUCATION EQUALS ECONOMICS ALLIANCE
Location: Austin, TX
Project Title: Organizational Capacity Building
Amount Funded: 130,000
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
In the proposed grant, the Austin College Access Network (ACAN) partners will begin a formative program evaluation of the college persistence services of ACAN members. Because the program sizes and experience in offering college persistence services vary widely across the ACAN programs, several different program evaluation strategies will be used as appropriate to each organization. For new programs, process and implementation analyses will be conducted. For programs with a longer history of offering persistence services, a quasi-experimental net impact analysis will be conducted on outcomes through the spring of 2012. Results from all phases of the first year of the evaluation and recommendations for program improvements will be shared with E3 Alliance and ACAN member organizations. These organizations will use evaluation findings to plan improvements to college persistence services beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year. The total number of students served by ACAN organizations exceeds 1800.
Grantee: EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Location: El Paso, TX
Project Title: Earn While You Learn
Amount Funded: 194,749
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Through this project El Paso Community College (EPCC) students will work on campus and gain a support system that will encourage them to take advantage of college resources and support services plus earn three credit hours. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in the EPCC Leadership Development Academy that is available to EPCC faculty and staff. Since 2002, STS has gradually increased the number of students employed, it currently employs approximately 85 students per semester. Because of the high demand to participate and work on campus the waiting list has grown to over 75 students. With TG funding EPCC will be able to increase the number of available work study positions by at least 15 students per year, bringing the total number of students served to at least 100. TG will provide $183,200 in need-based aid for these students.
Grantee: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY - RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Project Title: Linking Institutional Policy to Student Success: A Pilot Study
Amount Funded: 153,323
Category: Educational Research
Award Year: 2011-2012
The proposed project seeks to identify specific institution-wide policies that might be leveraged to increase college student engagement - a key predictor of student grades and persistence that is especially beneficial to Hispanic, African American, and academically under-prepared students. The project involves the production and distribution of administrator surveys to complement data collected as part of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The administrator surveys will collect data reflecting the extent to which institutions have adopted policies, practices, and organizational structures that, according to the available research literature, contribute to first-year student success. Dissemination plans for the research findings include conference presentations, a webinar, and academic journal publications.
Grantee: I KNOW I CAN
Location: Columbus, OH
Project Title: Make the Most of my College Experience Retention Program Expansion
Amount Funded: 209,653
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
I Know I Can (IKIC) seeks support to continue its "Make the Most of My Community College Experience" retention program at Columbus State Community College and expand the initiative to four additional high-need retention campuses across the state of Ohio: Central State University; Ohio University; University of Cincinnati; and, Wright State University. IKIC also seeks to expand retention support to a fifth campus in Ohio, the University of Toledo. 800 current students will be directly served by this program, with an additional 400 former students eligible to participate as well. TG funding supports retention advising, handout materials, lunch and learn workshops, and $86,544 in need-based aid for participants and peer mentors.
Grantee: INTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
Location: San Antonio, TX
Project Title: Organizational Capacity Building
Amount Funded: 120,521
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
Funding will help the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) enhance its capacity to create a statewide, campus level college persistence, completion, and developmental course success database that will enable school districts and college administrators to adapt existing practices, increase their efficacy in preparing and retaining students in college, and provide the necessary support for greater number of students, primarily low income and minority students. In addition to a database, other enhancements include staff capacity to engage school district and college administrators in dialogues leading to a smoother student transition to college and increased technological capacity to disseminate decision making information that leads to greater participation and graduation of traditionally underserved students in Texas. IDRA beneficiaries include over 1,500 parents per year who access their resources. They expect an additional 1,500 parents per year could be reached through this capacity building project.
Grantee: LLANO GRANDE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Location: Edcouch, TX
Project Title: College Access for Parents and Students
Amount Funded: 209,290
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Llano Grande's work began in the mid-1990s with a 'teacher as counselor' approach that focused on advising, college visitation and preparing students for college entrance exams. Their curricular and extracurricular programs engage students in action research and collective leadership for community change, while guiding them through the college application process. This TG funded initiative will allow the organization to implement programs more systemically in Edcouch-Elsa High School. The school's population is 95 percent Hispanic and many parents do not speak English. Only 43 percent of adults living in this community have graduated from high school and six percent have earned a bachelor's degree. TG funding provides increased community outreach and youth engagement in this high school, directly benefitting approximately 150 high school students, 50 college alumni, and 1500 family and community members.
Grantee: MCALLEN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Location: McAllen, TX
Project Title: Ready, Set, Connect...to College
Amount Funded: 233,176
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The Ready, Get Set, Connect ... to College! Project aims to create a college going culture to increase awareness and preparation to succeed in post-secondary education. Targeting students in grades 9-12, this project will also provide early information to students and parents about college options, required courses needed for college preparation, and financial aid. TG funding will support test preparation, college visits, and financial aid awareness and preparation that will benefit the 6,890 students of McAllen ISD.
Grantee: NATIONAL COLLEGE ACCESS NETWORK INC.
Location: Washington, DC
Project Title: Organizational Capacity Building
Amount Funded: 162,555
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
To grow and serve more students sustainably, the National College Access Network (NCAN) and its members must continue to develop their capacity and capability to diversify and increase their sources of support. To accomplish this, NCAN will engage a development consulting firm to help five NCAN member organizations that are good candidates for growth to examine their existing fund development strategies, including policies and practices related to board development, fundraising, and community/volunteer engagement, to determine areas of potential improvement. These selected sites will serve as models for other college access and success providers looking to achieve sustainable growth to serve at least 20 percent more students. Materials and strategies developed through this project will be shared and disseminated at no cost to NCAN member organizations nationwide.
Grantee: SAN ANTONIO EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
Location: San Antonio, TX
Project Title: Promoting College Access and Success
Amount Funded: 229,910
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
This project will provide mentoring, guidance, and help bridge the gap between first-generation, low-income students and the complicated tasks of transitioning from high school, entering college, persisting in college, and graduating with a college degree or certificate. While the Partnership serves around 5,000 senior directly and 30,000 students indirectly, TG funding will specifically benefit 800 low-income first-generation seniors. TG funding is primarily for the one-one-one advising and outreach to these students.
Grantee: SAN JACINTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Location: Amarillo, TX
Project Title: No Excuses University - Building Bridges to College
Amount Funded: 77,708
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2012
This project expands the unique parntership between San Jacinto Elementary and Amarillo College (AC) that began two years ago. Through this partnership, staff members from AC regularly attend San Jacinto events, and San Jacinto students spend quality time on the campus of AC. Also, San Jacinto parents are now able to obtain a GED from San Jacinto through AC while on the San Jacinto campus, and as of spring 2011, 5 parents have completed a GED, with 3 of the parents now attending AC. Over 40 parents are currently enrolled in this program. The goal of developing a "Culture of Universal Achievement" is coming true at San Jacinto. The primary beneficiaries of this project will include the 750 students of San Jacinto and their families, along with some of the "graduates" of the program as they move through middle and high school. TG funding will support all program expenses, outreach materials, and $8400 in need-based course fee subsidies for parents enrolled in the GED completion program.
Grantee: TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Location: Laredo, TX
Project Title: Cultivating the Mind: Student Success Through Mentoring and Leadership
Amount Funded: 232,643
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Student Success Mentors (SSM) will assist area students by providing higher education attainment information and help introduce them to university life. Through personal interactions SSMs help provide a seamless transition from high school to college. These mentors continue the relationship with area high school students after they enroll by introducing them to the Freshman Leadership Organization (FLO), which encourages student participation in educational and cultural activities, and reflect on their experiences. Students completing the program objectives will be provided with a scholarship to be used for their second year. TG provides $75,000 for this need-based aid component, with partial TAMIU matching funds. The program will benefit around 4,000 area high school students, with mentoring through enrollment and first-year retention services for at least 50 students per year.
Grantee: TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Location: San Marcos, TX
Project Title: Foster Care Alumni Creating Educational Success (FACES)
Amount Funded: 90,067
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
FACES is a campus-wide effort to help students who grew up in foster care achieve success while enrolled at Texas State. This program will expands direct services to foster care alumni who have aged-out of the system through focused recruitment partnerships, mentoring programming to increase retention, and enhanced programming for personal and professional stability beyond graduation through job placement and financial literacy initiatives. FACES will directly benefit approximately 155 former foster care students enrolled in Texas State. TG funding will support all areas of the program including outreach, mentoring, and faculty/staff development.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN
Location: Houston, TX
Project Title: Academic GPS: Arriving at a Timely Graduation
Amount Funded: 187,915
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
This project involves a three-semester collaborative program for a cohort of approximately 125 entering freshmen in the first year of the grant and a similar cohort in the second year. Major components include a one-credit freshman seminar/College Success Program, an individual development plan created with the assigned advisor, monthly sessions to enhance academic and life skills, a leadership program, and e-advising/mentoring communities. Book vouchers account for $69,000 in TG funding.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Location: Chicago, IL
Project Title: Illinois Completes College: A Retention Initiative of the University of Illinois College Advising Corps
Amount Funded: 207,978
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The ICAC has designed a retention initiative to increase the retention from year one to year two. Retention coaches will provide personalized one-on-one e-mentoring, host campus activities, connect with support services, and create family support. This pilot program could serve as a model to inform similar efforts for the National College Advising Corps program. TG support is for the retention coaching, professional development, and student cohort activities. The retention coaches are upper level college students themselves, and the need-based aid component in this project amount to $198,778 to support their work. The initiative will benefit over 3,500 graduating seniors in 12 local high schools.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Project Title: An Examination of the Relationship Between Private Support, Institutional Viability and the Role of HSIs in Providing Access and Opportunity
Amount Funded: 139,188
Category: Educational Research
Award Year: 2011-2012
The proposed study will examine statistical trends and institutional practices that shape the capacity of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to meet their mission. Researchers will construct a framework to explain the relationship between private support and institutional viability, and assess its impact on access and degree completion. By documenting the existing patterns of institutional financial resiliency as represented by patterns of private support, non-operating assets, and the presence of endowed funds, the research will address the following question: How has the distribution of institutional resources needed to serve high-need students affected patterns of access and degree completion at HSIs over the past five years? Findings will be shared with the members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE), with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, and other associations. In addition a pre-conference workshop will be developed in partnership with HACU.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
Location: Columbia, MO
Project Title: Strategic Examination of the Missouri College Advising Corps: Building Capacity and Sustainability
Amount Funded: 24,400
Category: Organizational Capacity
Award Year: 2011-2012
To manage the positive growth in a strategic manner that considers scalability and sustainability, the Missouri College Advising Corps (MCAC) believes the time is right to intensively examine and assess existing: program components and their alignment with MCAC mission; outcomes assessment practices and processes; advisory mechanisms and whether they can move MCAC in the desired direction or what is needed to do so; and staff structure and whether it is adequate. To do so, the Center for the Study of Organizational Change will assist MCAC in building its capacity. After capacity building, MCAC will be able to serve around 15,000 students directly, up from 8,524 prior to scaling up.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
Location: Denton, TX
Project Title: American Indian and Alaska Native Community College Student Success and Transfer: Exploring Promising Practices of Tribal Colleges and Native American Serving Institutions
Amount Funded: 139,234
Category: Educational Research
Award Year: 2011-2012
The goal of the proposed study is to investigate American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) degree/certificate completion and successful transfer to four-year institutions. Objectives are: 1) to explore factors and practices that support community college degree/certificate completion and/or successful transfer for AI/AN students; and 2) to explore unique practices of tribal colleges and how they can be adapted by non-tribal colleges. Although restricted to AI students, this study has potential for national replication of practice and policy for other under-resourced populations; especially rural, first generation, and economically disadvantaged students. Results will be shared with participating institutions as well as the National Indian Education Association and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Additionally, the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students is committed to hosting a conference and providing a free webinar to present the outcomes.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Location: Austin, TX
Project Title: Free Minds Project
Amount Funded: 135,890
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The Free Minds project breaks down barriers to higher education for low income adults. Free Minds provides adults with an opportunity for intellectual engagement and support for their continued intellectual growth and pursuit of a college degree. The core of the program is a free 2-semester college courseload in humanities, team taught by University of Texas at Austin and Austin Community College professors. The project additionally provides course materials, advising, case management, college prep workshops, and a youth development program for the students children. TG funding will be used to expand services in the coming years to include: concurrent alumni and 1st year courses to promote retention and connect to more support and academic resources; formal program to match graduates with mentors in the academic, business, and cultural community who will support and hold them accountable to their progress; and pilot an onsite writing workshop to improve communication skills and awareness of pathways to higher education in Austin. Over two years, the program will directly benefit 50 first-year students, 42 program alumni, 24 children of students, and 120 additional adult learners in writing workshops.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
Location: Richardson, TX
Project Title: Academic Bridge Scholars at the University of Texas at Dallas
Amount Funded: 240,000
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Students entering The Academic Bridge Program (ABP) participate in an intensive summer "speed up" session prior to their freshman year. They take up to 9 semester credit hours. Students are given ongoing support throughout their college years including peer advising and mentoring by senior ABP students. Dedicated ABP staff members provide advising and counseling to help keep these students on the path to earning a college degree. For juniors and seniors, summer internships are a critical component of this program. TG funding supports an additional 20 students to be added to the yearly freshman cohort. This support covers all advising, tutoring, program activities, and $180,000 in need-based aid.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS BROWNSVILLE
Location: Brownsville, TX
Project Title: Summer Bridge
Amount Funded: 198,850
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The proposed project consists of an intensive six-week summer program for high school graduates that includes instruction in math, reading and/or writing as well as a "college knowledge" component. Instruction will be tailored to integrate content, apply skills learned to other subjects, include real world examples, and utilize culturally relevant readings and modular learning. Academic and financial aid advisors will also work with students to inform and mentor them through their respective processes. The goal of the UTB Summer Bridge Program is to reduce or eliminate the need for developmental education. TG funding will support all program activities, including $27,500 in scholarships and book grants. This program will directly benefit 240 students over two years.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH
Location: Galveston, TX
Project Title: Pre-medical and Allied Health Academic Achievement and Retention Program
Amount Funded: 249,365
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
UTMB will offer a year-round, pre-med allied health academic achievement and retention program (AARP) for low income and minority undergraduate students who are underrepresented in sciences and/or first generation students with an interest in science or medicine. Throughout each year, 60 students will participate in web-based retention and academic achievement program that will also incorporate a two-week intensive summer program on the UTMB campus. TG funding will support student counseling and instruction as well as $127,200 in need-based aid over the two years.
Grantee: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
Location: Edinburg, TX
Project Title: CLASI: College Literacy Academic Success Initiative
Amount Funded: 246,378
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
The College Literacy Academic Success Initiative (CLASI) endeavors to improve outcomes in selected entry-level reading intensive courses by drawing on the expertise of Curriculum & Instruction (C&I) reading program faculty who regularly implement successful literacy strategies in their instruction. 560 students will directly benefit from the program over the two-year span, learning skills and strategies to improve reading in college level courses. Additionally, many faculty will benefit from the workshops provided by the C&I Reading Specialists. TG funding will support program coordination, reading specialist instruction to students, and reading mentors to work with students one-on-one.
Grantee: WYMAN CENTER
Location: Eureka, MO
Project Title: Persistence Power
Amount Funded: 204,219
Category: Direct Services to Students/Families
Award Year: 2011-2013
Persistence Power integrates financial, psychological, and institutional supports for persistence — the three areas which account for up to 75% of decisions to leave college: (1) Financial — The Scholarship Foundation's interest free loans and Bravo Grants. Financial literacy and debt management coaching emphasizes the need to maintain a manageable level of debt. (2) Psychological — A base level of persistence coaching will be provided to all students. Cohort groups will be formed at the three identified partner universities, providing students with a vehicle to develop connections to the campus and a proactive peer group. (3) Institutional — Formal collaborations will be established with three universities to support students attending the partner universities. Efforts include bridging to campus-based support services, developing early warning systems for involved students. TG funding supports all three program areas, including $110,000 in need-based aid. Direct beneficiaries over the two years include 300 high school seniors, and 145 college freshmen.
