August 16, 2006 - MEDIA ADVISORY
The Calvin College office of pre-college programs will pioneer a new program to prepare African-American young men for collegeentrance.
The new program will be called P2P Excel, and it is being funded via a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education.
P2P Excel is a fresh spin on Pathways to Possibilities (P2P), a12-year-old effort that partners Calvin with churches and community ministries to foster college awareness in at-risk youth.
Calvin's Rhae-Ann Booker, director of pre-college programs, says the primary target of P2P Excel will be African-American males. Inaddition P2P Excel will depart from the old Pathways model in a number of ways, including becoming the first Pathways program to partner Pre-College Programs with schools rather than churches.
Booker is enthusiastic about this new collaboration and looks forward to working with the Grand Rapids Public Schools.
"The Grand Rapids Public Schools are doing a good job," shesays, "and with solid partnerships like this one, we as a college and GRPS can do a better job."
At P2P Excel's core is a tutoring program which will see up to 30 students in the program receive tutoring in college prep curriculum at their school or at a local community ministry. Another key component to P2P Excel is a parent network. Through dinners and other gatherings, the program will furnish parents with the resources they need to motivate their children toward a post-high school education.
Lumina Foundation for Education is an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation that strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school.
Contact Booker at 616-526-6748 or rbooker@calvin.edu For the complete story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/lumina.htm