Mesa CC, Phoenix College Team with Cities and Schools for Gates Foundation Grant
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National League of Cities today announced that Mesa Community College and Phoenix College, as well as public schools in each community and the city governments of Phoenix and Mesa have been awarded a grant to boost college graduation rates by improving coordination between colleges, schools and cities.
The $250,000 grants are part of a National League of Cities initiative to help officials explore new and better ways in which they can work together to streamline services to low-income young adults in Mesa and Phoenix. The goal of the plan is to double the number of low-income young adults who earn a post-secondary degree or certificate with value in the marketplace by the time they reach age 26.
"Enrollment at the nation’s 1,200 community colleges is at an all-time high, yet two-thirds of those attending will not graduate within three years," according to the Gates Foundation. "Often it’s not a question of effort. Rather, those students face multiple challenges--Many aren’t academically ready for college-level work, they juggle school and family responsibilities, and many must work fulltime while attending classes. Because the help that students need to overcome these obstacles comes from a range of agencies, it makes sense to explore new ways to coordinate that assistance."
“When our students succeed, we succeed as a city and a community,” Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said. “Partnering with MCC and MPS to help low-income students attend and succeed in college is a great way to build a better community.”
"The future of our city will be determined by our commitment to educating our youth," said Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. "Partnerships like this between the city, Maricopa Community Colleges, Phoenix Union High School District, and Arizona State University Vice President of Education Partnerships, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation play a central role in ensuring that our bright young students have the tools they need to earn a college degree and build a strong knowledge-based economy."
The grants announced today will support nine-month collaborative planning efforts in each of the seven cities. This planning grant is the first phase in a process that enables the three organizations to apply for a three-year, $3 million implementation grant from the Gates foundation.
“I am extremely pleased that this grant will enable MCC to work together with the City government and our community partners even more closely to increase post-secondary completion rates,” said Dr. Shouan Pan, MCC President. “This grant will raise the bar for all of us, and we will work collaboratively to create a plan that is viewed as a national model.”
Dr. Anna Solley, President of Phoenix College, stated, "Through the grant, we will build on these community partnerships for the benefit of young adults in Phoenix, increasing both readiness for and accessibility to college, improving student achievement of college certificates and degrees, and ultimately strengthening our workforce by preparing students to obtain valuable and relevant employment. We are thrilled to be a partner and appreciate the tremendous support being provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
In today’s global economy, a college degree or advanced training beyond high school is required for the best-paying jobs. Despite a near record-high unemployment, community colleges offer a bright outlook. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted recently that, over the next decade, jobs for community college graduates will grow nearly twice as fast as the national average.
But those jobs will only be available to those who graduate.
“With today’s dwindling resources, community leaders have an obligation to align their programs in ways that will maximize results,” said Donald Borut, executive director of the National League of Cities. “Efforts to boost graduation rates will benefit students, our local employers and, ultimately, society at large.”
For decades, educators and our national policies have focused on getting more students into college, but we’ve done little to ensure they graduate once they get there.
“Our efforts to get more students to college are wasted when we don’t follow up with the supports they need to graduate,” said Hilary Pennington, the director of Education, Postsecondary Success and Special Initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “In today’s economy, workers need advanced training to earn good wages, and that training comes with a college degree.”
The other community colleges and city agencies that received today’s grants include Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio; Florida State College at Jacksonville; Research Foundation of the City University of New York; Riverside (CA) City College; and Interagency Council on Youth, City and County of San Francisco.