ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ Foundation to Expand Hayward Promise Neighborhood Program with $276,500 AT&T Aspire Grant
- September 26, 2014
ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ has received $276,500 from AT&T to expand the Hayward Promise Neighborhood (HPN) initiative, a program that aims to improve the lives and academics of more than 10,000 residents and 3,000 students in the ethnically diverse, low-income Jackson Triangle neighborhood.
The grant is part of AT&T Aspire, the company’s signature education initiative focused on school success and career readiness. The funding will pay for dropout prevention specialists, who will work with high school counselors to help at-risk students stay in school.
The HPN program was created in 2012 with a five-year, $25 million U.S. Department of Education grant. ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ was one of the first five organizations – and the only university in the nation – selected to pilot the Promise Neighborhood Initiative.
“We were fortunate to get the initial Department of Education grant,” said ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ President Leroy M. Morishita. “It brought the community together in a special way, helping youth and families in the Jackson Triangle. Working with parents, their children, teachers, principals, and others to prepare our youth for success in school is critical. This support from AT&T is going to help us move the needle forward and make the initiative sustainable. AT&T has taken a big step forward with us.”
Because of the HPN initiative’s early success supporting and motivating traditionally underserved students to stay in school and prepare for their next steps in life, ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ and the HPN initiative were selected from more than 1,000 applicants nationwide to share nearly $12.5 million in Aspire grants.
“AT&T is pleased to support CSU East Bay and the Hayward Promise Neighborhood program through our Aspire commitment,” said Ken McNeely, president of AT&T California. “Solving the drop-out crisis and preparing kids for college and career success takes more than just in-school support. Programs like Hayward Neighborhood Promise are critical because they empower the entire community, as well as individual students – and AT&T is proud to be a partner in this effort.
A component of AT&T’s collaboration with HPN supports student mentoring. According to a recent report, students with mentors are more likely to aspire to enroll in and graduate from college than those without mentors (76 percent vs. 56 percent). Carolyn Nelson, dean of ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥’s College of Education and Allied Studies, said the grant will allow the university to double the number of mentors in the schools and provide case management at both Hayward High and Tennyson High.
John Taylor, Hayward Unified School District board president, said, “HPN’s partnership has proven to be critical in providing invaluable services to our students, families and communities while improving the ability to serve students from cradle to career. This partnership and the contribution from AT&T will give us the needed resources to expand services to all of our children in the Hayward community, especially the Tennyson corridor, our targeted area.”
The HPN initiative, led by ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥, is managed by a collaborative of more than nine local organizations.