UMass Boston and Dorchester Education Complex Receive Major Grant to Help Prepare Students for College

Dorchester, MA- After a competitive proposal process, the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Dorchester Education Complex have been selected to join three other university-high school partnerships in the Nellie Mae Education Foundation's Partnerships for College Success grant program.

Partnerships for College Success is a new multi-year grant program under the Nellie Mae Education Foundation's College Prep initiative. The grant program is aimed at strengthening existing collaborations between universities and high schools that seek to improve college preparation and success for all students. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation will provide technical assistance as the intermediary for the program.

"The University of Massachusetts Boston and the Dorchester Education Complex already work together in a highly collaborative effort focused on improving academic achievement," said Blenda J. Wilson, President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. "We look forward to working with them to ensure that more of their students go on to college fully prepared to succeed academically and to gain the high-level education they will need to become part of the 21st century workforce."

The five-year grant will provide UMASS Boston and The Dorchester Education Complex with $150,000 for the first year and will be directed specifically toward maximizing the number of Dorchester Education Complex students who graduate from high school and earn degrees at UMASS Boston and other colleges.

"UMass Boston faculty, students and staff have worked closely with the leadership of the Dorchester Education Complex and its three small high schools to improve instruction and support a culture of achievement," said UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley. "The next logical step is to ensure that students who achieve in high school go on to successful university and college careers."

Along with three other university/high school partnerships - the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Caribou High School, Clark University and the University Park Campus School, and UMass Lowell and Lowell High School - UMass Boston and the Dorchester Education Complex will be part of the Partnerships for College Success cluster. The Foundation expects to add two more partnerships to this group in 2005. Cluster members will work with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to design, implement, share and document best practices related to improving college preparation, access, retention, and completion for underserved students.

"The Partnerships for College Success program is offering a college jumpstart for students in both urban and rural areas," said Robert Weisbuch, President of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. "We're eager to help the partnerships create more intellectual challenges for the students, as well as first-rate professional development for their teachers. We think this is an important opportunity to remove some barriers and help prepare students not only for college success, but also for fulfilling lives and careers."

Partnerships for College Success is a multi-year grant program in the Nellie Mae Education Foundation's College Prep initiative. The Foundation's College Prep grants support innovative and time-tested intervention programs, especially those that go beyond informing and motivating students to directly impacting high school and college achievement and attainment. Grants also support research, information dissemination, and program evaluation to develop, inform, and advance best practices in the field.

Based in Quincy, Massachusetts, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation provides grants and other support to education programs in New England that are designed to improve low-income and underserved students' academic achievement and access to higher education. The Foundation also funds research that examines critical educational opportunity issues affecting underserved students, adults and families. Since it was established in 1998, the Foundation has awarded $44 million in grants and support to education programs in the region. On the web at www.nmefdn.org.

The Dorchester Education Complex was created in 2003-2004 when three smaller schools - The Academy of Public Service, the Economics and Business Academy, and the TechBoston Academy - all came together within a single facility. These schools serve a total of nearly 780 students with broad cultural and ethnic diversity.

The University of Massachusetts Boston was established in 1964 as the only public university in the city. The most diverse public university in New England, UMass Boston brings the resources of a major nationally recognized university to people of all backgrounds in Greater Boston by offering 120 fields of study in both undergraduate and graduate programs. On the web at www.umb.edu

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has its origins in a now-famous fellowship program, begun in 1945, which helped the United States create a great generation of college teachers and intellectual leaders. Today's Woodrow Wilson continues to cultivate excellence in teaching and learning at every level of education, putting the arts and sciences at the service of democracy. On the web at www.woodrow.org