Posner Foundation Supports Regional Student Success Initiatives
2024 - 29 - 08
The Posner Foundation is happy to announce its most recent round of grants focused on student success initiatives in the Pittsburgh region. These projects help students afford, access, thrive in, and complete college. Past initiatives supported by the foundation include providing seed funding for, and later endowing, the Tartan Scholars Program at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as supporting student success models at other colleges and universities and working with local nonprofit organizations focused on helping high-school-aged students access higher education.
In this round of funding, the Posner Foundation sought opportunities to support both tried-and-true programs and to support lesser-known or emerging ideas that require more funding to realize their potential. We prioritized projects working with students of color, immigrants and refugees, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and first-generation college students. Six of the selected projects build upon existing foundation partnerships and seven are new to us. Thank you to these amazing organizations for their hard work! We are excited to follow their progress.
Student Success Awardees
Alumni Theater Company creates bold theatrical work that gives fresh voice to the experience of young Black artists and highlights their rich contribution to our community. Staff work with each high school student to develop a written, viable plan for postsecondary education. This includes college selection, application assistance, preparation for standardized testing, audition preparation, associated fee payment, and financial aid form completion. Alumni Theater Company stays connected to all its alumni and provides mentoring and emergency financial resources to students who need support in postsecondary education.
ARYSE is developing a postsecondary success program and partnerships with local universities to support immigrant and refugee youth, i.e. forcibly displaced youth, to pursue postsecondary education. ARYSE plans to address the unique barriers immigrant and refugee youth face while pursuing postsecondary education, such as language barriers, economic hardship, and lack of awareness of available resources. Programming will include individualized coaching and cohort-based transition workshops.
Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh (BCAP) is integrating college prep, career exploration, mentorship, and family resources into formalized programming for high school students. BCAP has developed a college student cohort for peer support and resource sharing. Its goal with this cohort is to address knowledge gaps in the immigrant and refugee community and to increase a sense of belonging among its first-generation college students. BCAP will provide career exploration events, college visits, guest speakers, and mentoring. The college cohort will be paired with high school students as mentors to offer culturally informed knowledge and support for postsecondary education.
Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is hiring a Latino ESL Support Coordinator to help students connect to resources and social services. The ESL Support Coordinator will run programming, tutoring, and other support through one-on-one meetings and regular points of contact. Additionally, CCAC will work with community partners to recruit students for non-credit ESL classes. Through participation in these classes, students will be encouraged to enroll in a degree or certificate program. CCAC will expand its ESL offerings across its four campuses, three centers, and virtual campus. Classes will provide prospective students with support in placement testing, literacy, and speaking confidence to help them succeed in college.
Human Services Center Mon Valley’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is available to low-income students going into their senior year of high school at East Allegheny, McKeesport Area, Penn Hills, West Mifflin Area, and Woodland Hills High Schools. Staff are placed in the high schools, where they regularly meet with students individually. Staff help students identify their interests and strengths and create action plans catered to their specific goals. They provide support on the FAFSA, college applications, scholarships, and financial aid. Students attend job shadows, college tours, and college fairs throughout the program year. Staff provide case management to ensure students have the support they need to achieve their goals.
Literacy Pittsburgh will design a college-going pathway of coursework aligned to the entrance requirements of local colleges to ensure students are eligible to apply. The program will include lessons and workshops about exploring college options, applying to college, and understanding and seeking financial aid and scholarships. A Literacy Pittsburgh counselor will provide individualized college counseling support. Two of the courses in this program will be bridge courses to teach the skills needed to persist and finish college. The first will focus on study skills, note-taking, and time management. The second will focus on the college ecosystem: navigating registration, course selection, advising, support services, and financial literacy.
Neighborhood Allies partners with Advantage Credit Counseling Service to provide free, confidential credit counseling and debt management at the Allegheny County Financial Empowerment Center. The Financial Empowerment Center has a partnership with CCAC to help financially insecure college students stabilize their financial position and remain in school. Neighborhood Allies plans to expand this existing partnership by developing a formal agreement between CCAC’s Resource Navigators, Financial Aid department, and the Financial Empowerment Center to refer students for targeted outreach. It will also place financial counselors directly on CCAC’s campus for convenient in-person sessions with the goal of building awareness on campus of the services offered at the center.
Neighborhood Learning Alliance (NLA)’s High School University program aims to normalize a college-going culture by enrolling high school students in a college course on campus. Students explore various career tracks by completing internships that supplement their coursework. For example, a student who is interested in nursing can intern at West Penn Hospital while taking a college biology class. NLA will hire a part-time staff person to provide continuity in the transition from high school to college, adding support for the college application process and being the go-to contact for program alumni to continue the mentor relationship, troubleshoot problems, and administer emergency financial assistance.
Open Field is an international sport-based youth development organization with programming that improves the lives and futures of more than 400 youth from immigrant, refugee, and other marginalized communities in Allegheny County. Leveraging the global game of soccer, Open Field’s programs promote life skills, teen employment, girls’ empowerment, and post-secondary success. Future Forward, their newest initiative, provides teenagers with access to higher education through organized soccer competitions, enrichment workshops, and year-round mentoring. From their youth programs up through their partnership with the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), Open Field aims to support first-generation, foreign-born student-athletes to earn a degree and increase opportunities for economic mobility.
The Pittsburgh Promise’s Promise Coaching supplements its scholarship model with coaching staff placed at targeted high schools with the lowest rates of college attainment. Fourteen Promise Coaches placed in five Pittsburgh Public Schools offer career exploration and college counseling through class presentations, one-on-one meetings, college fairs, and college visits. Promise Coaching is growing to place four coaches at Westinghouse Academy. Once fully integrated into the school, coaches will deliver personalized support in career exploration and planning alongside social-emotional support and mental health counseling.
South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM)’s Future Focus program will establish post-secondary education readiness and college assistance support for enrolled students, many of whom are first generation. High school students will meet regularly one-on-one with a dedicated college and career readiness specialist to discuss future goals and create action plans. SHIM will provide college/trade school tours, job shadowing, application support, SAT prep, homework help, and mental health support. For college students, SHIM will offer weekly group mentoring sessions focused on building life skills, job readiness, and fostering social connections. College students will have the option to mentor high school students in the program and share firsthand insights about navigating college.
University of Pittsburgh’s Horizon Scholars is a campus support program for prospective and current students who have experienced the child welfare system. This collaborative effort is led by the Educational Outreach Center (EOC) and the Office of the Provost, in partnership with the School of Public Health, School of Social Work, and the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. The program is composed of internal programming, advisory council support, and community outreach and engagement. Thirty community partners promote post-secondary education and the transition from pre-college to college. Horizon Scholars provides a wide range of support services including housing support, academic coaching, financial wellness support, employment and internship opportunities, social/emotional support, resource navigation, mentorship, emergency aid, group activities, and more.
Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC) will revitalize its support programs at the Student Success Center, which works directly with first-generation students, low-income students, students receiving SNAP/TANF, parenting students, students with involvement in the juvenile justice system, and students with involvement in the foster care system. WCCC will grow the partnership between the Student Success Center and the Career Connections Center to provide tailored resources such as resume writing, practice interviews, employer events, panels, professionalism lessons, and job search assistance.