Thank you for your continued interest and support of Akron Promise. We have had an exciting few months since our last update, including a number of meetings with various civic and education leaders in Akron and Summit County. We’ve refocused our efforts for the coming year. Here is a summary:
Kenmore-Garfield High School Education Advocates
Instead of tackling the entire district, we’re starting with one school. It’s known that at-risk kids (and at-risk families) need lots of help with post-secondary navigation. We are working with Akron Public Schools to help 25 seniors navigate the requirements to succeed after they leave high school. The focus will be on working with the students and families so that they know about job and educational opportunities, completing the FAFSA, applying to and visiting colleges, and preparing for life after high school. To do this work, WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Please contact us via the methods mentioned at the bottom of this update if you are interested in this important work. No experience or prior knowledge is required!
PromiseNet 2017 Invitation
PromiseNet 2017 will take place in Kalamazoo, MI on November 6 and 7th. PromiseNet is an annual gathering of people seeking to transform their communities by making a long-term investment in education. Akron Promise has attended the last three conferences with other local education stakeholders. Each year there is more to learn about how to develop and shape a program. There is something to learn for everyone! If you would like to attend with our group from Akron, please let us know via the contact information at the bottom of this update. More information about PromiseNet 2017 can be found here.
Scholarships
The cornerstone of every Promise program is to remove the financial barrier from post-secondary educational attainment. We are learning about current scholarships, focused on graduates of Akron Public Schools, to make them more accessible for students. More dollars for students has been, and will continue to be, one of our goals.
Neighborhood Approach
A beautiful thing about Akron is that people are always willing to help! In addition to city, state and county assistance, we continue to find out about smaller, grass-roots organizations offering a variety of assistance to Akronites. This year, we will be looking at resources in the Kenmore Garfield cluster neighborhoods and work with leaders in them to find ways to connect people in need to the help available.
You can’t just throw scholarship money at kids and expect them to succeed. In addition to others in our city, we know how important the wrap-around supports are in getting our graduates enrolled, employed or enlisted. We all need to support our kids from cradle to career – it truly takes a village. If you’d like a role in Akron’s village, please contact us via the links below.
Read about how you can support scholarships for Akron Public School students here via Amazon Smile.
And please follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed as we continue to shape the community involved culture of education in Akron!
To be sure to stay informed on future updates, please join our official mailing list by signing up here!
For further information, please contact Tom Ghinder at TGhinder@gmail.com or (330) 329-4855.
