College Now Comes to EPL This Fall

College Now announced in August that it was awarded a new 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. The award, $200,000 per year for three years (total of $600,000) is passed through the U.S. Department of Education to the Ohio Department of Education, then on to College Now and will allow the organization to expand the impACT the 216 after school programming to the Euclid community through a partnership with the Euclid Public Library.

impACT the 216 is an eight-week program that runs three times each school year designed to increase students’ reading and math proficiency and boost their ACT scores. In addition, students who participate in the program are required to develop a college plan that they will present to their families at the end of their eight-week session. Not only do College Now advisors guide students through the process, they educate their families on the college-going process. This increased awareness among families will support students’ postsecondary aspirations. Additionally, participants take part in college visits and are eligible for a stipend upon successful completion of the program.

“We are thrilled to have received this new 21st Century grant,” said Lee Friedman, CEO of College Now. “The 21st Century Community Learning Center grants are extremely competitive. In this grant cycle, 202 applications for new funding were submitted, and only 26 were awarded. We are grateful that our proposal was strong enough to secure a grant in this cycle. This funding will allow us to provide intensive community-based college access advising to Euclid students in addition to the advising they already receive in their school building, and we are grateful to the Euclid Public Library for partnering with us to deliver this programming.”

"In 2015, my daughter had the opportunity to participate in a College Now impACT the 216 program and it helped increase her overall ACT score by four points and begin her college studies at Kent State University," said Kacie Armstrong, Director of Euclid Public Library. “In addition, as an alumna of College Now of Greater Cleveland, I know that the additional support students receive after school has a significant and positive impact on their postsecondary plans."

Students who participate in impACT the 216 take a pre- and post-test using ACT’s researched-based student data and assessment tools to set benchmarks in reading and math and determine students’ progress in those two areas throughout the course of the program. An ACT score of 21 is considered college-ready. According to the Ohio Department of Education 2013-14 Report Card, just 48.6% of Euclid City School District’s seniors took the ACT; among those, 92.8% had scores indicating they were not college-ready, would require remedial coursework upon college enrollment and would not meet college-ready benchmark scores. The goal of impACT the 216 is for College Now advisors to work with students one-on-one and in groups on activities that will polish their reading and math skills as well as familiarize them with the ACT, so they are more confident in their understanding of the subject matter and the test itself the next time they take it.

“At College Now, we know that students’ chances of academic success in college increase with each point they can raise their ACT scores,” Friedman said. “Not only that, but higher ACT scores correlate to higher financial aid awards from colleges and universities, reducing the financial burden on the students as well. Academic preparedness and finances are the two biggest hurdles the students we serve face on their postsecondary journeys. impACT the 216 seeks to help alleviate some of those issues.”

To register, please visit http://collegenowgc.org/impact-the-216.