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At-risk students who are either dropping out or have dropped out of high school have a second chance thanks to a $300,000 grant from Portland Community College.
Gateway to College, launched in 2000 by Portland Community College, seeks to enable youth, ages 16-20, with the opportunity to continue an education.
The grant allows this college to offer an education to 50 students from five local school districts.
Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the program is slated to begin in fall 2007.
Alamo Heights School District, Comal School District, Northeast School District, Northside School District and San Antonio School District will be working in conjuction with this college to help students earn high school degrees while earning college credit toward an associate degree or certificate.
Although classes will be on this campus, students will remain enrolled in their districts, which will continue to receive state funding for them.
After the completion of the nursing and allied health building in 2008, Gateway to College will be housed in the nursing education building.
Each district will pay this college per student a portion of their per capita state appropriation.
Handing President Robert Zeigler two umbrellas as protection against recent heavy rains in the Pacific Northwest, Laurel Dukehart, director of the Gateway to College National Network, welcomed Zeigler and this college into the program.
"The strength of your people and the commitment of the school districts is what made us choose this site," Dukehart said.
There are 12 sites in 10 states in addition to Portland Community College. Seventeen programs are projected to start by fall 2007.
"This is a good way to bridge the gap. The grant is not the important thing here; the grant is a means to an end," Zeigler said.
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