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University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
September 15, 2000 |
Contact: Shirley Daniel, professor, College of Business Administration, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 956-3249; daniel@cba.hawaii.edu Amy Agbayani, director, Student Equity, Excellence & Diversity, University
of Hawai'i at Manoa, 956-4567; agbayani@hawaii.edu
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| UH, business and community agencies help disadvantaged middle-school students pursue college education |
President Clinton awarded two grants to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa earlier this week to fund programs that help low-income children prepare for and obtain a college education. The grants are part of a national program enacted in 1998 called GEAR UP, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. This year, Clinton released 80 new grants totaling $46 million.
"GEAR UP is a partnership with low-income kids that says if you'll aim high and aspire to college, we'll help you get there with counseling, mentoring, tutoring and financial aid" Clinton said in his speech announcing the awards. "It sends a message that with hope, hard work and high hopes - high expectations, you can go as far as your abilities will take you."
Hawai'i's two grants, which total more than $2 million, will help more local students stay in school and prepare for post-secondary education. The project will use federal and state resources to reach thousands of youths throughout Hawai'i.
The UH Manoa College of Business Administration took the lead role in obtaining the state grant of $1.85 million, which is renewable and expected to bring more than $9 million in federal funding to Hawai'i over the next five years. Representatives from the state Department of Education, the Hawai'i Institute for Educational Partnerships (HIEP) and the community at large helped design the project, which will provide teacher-training workshops, tutoring and scholarships for low-income students. Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, Computer Training Academy, College Connections Hawai'i, Hawai'i Campus Compact and Hawai'i Career and College Fair are among the community organizations that will contribute to the state GEAR UP program.
"Improving Hawai'i's public education system, to enable all of Hawai'i's youths to succeed in high school as well as increasing the proportion of Hawai'i's college population with a college education are essential prerequisites for Hawai'i to develop new high-tech industries and to diversify its economy," said UH business Professor Shirley Daniel, who is principal investigator of the state project along with HIEP's Jane Uyehara.
The program will involve about 25 staff members statewide and will reach at least 30 schools in low-income communities, Daniel said. The program has four main components: 1) hosting workshops for teachers and providing tutoring to students with the help of Hawai'i Campus Compact's statewide network of service-learning college students; 2) assisting the DOE in drawing from community resources to create a more encouraging environment for students; 3) launching a public-awareness campaign to help local families realize the importance and affordability of a college education; and 4) providing an estimated $4 million in scholarships to participating GEAR UP students.
"The GEAR UP grant helps round out the University's efforts to help Hawai'i transition into the New Economy," said David McClain, dean of the College of Business Administration. "The funding will also contribute to the University's strategic goals of providing access to quality educational experiences and services to the state."
The second GEAR UP grant is a $386,468 partnership grant obtained by the UH Manoa Student Equity, Excellence & Diversity office and faculty from the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature. They will work with Dole and Kalakaua middle schools, Farrington High School and several community agencies to assist 575 seventh graders from low-income families. The annual grant is renewable for the next five years. The cohort has created a program to provide access to rigorous academic preparation, financial information and individual scholarship accounts.
"The program will follow the seventh grade cohort until they go to Farrington and eventually to Manoa and other campuses," SEED director Amy Agbayani said. "It's like a pipeline."
Agbayani said these Kalihi middle schools were selected because more than 60 percent of their students come from low-income families. Farrington also has a low college-going rate, she said, with only about 7 percent of Farrington graduates attending UH Manoa.
With the grant, the SEED office will hire three professionals, who will be based out of the schools, to oversee the program. A special course, "Language Awareness, Culture and Education," will emphasize ethnic heritage languages, specifically Ilokano, Tagalog and Samoan. The program will also offer supplemental instruction in math, tutors and mentors for students and workshops for teachers and parents. Students will also be given $100 each to start Individual Development Accounts, which will help them begin saving in advance for college expenses.
"I think this is a demonstration of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa's commitment to diversity," Agbayani said. "These are the very groups that are underrepresented in undergraduate schools. As a public university, part of UH's role is to provide diversity and access."
The Kalihi Business Association, Kokua Kalihi Valley, Susannah Wessley Community Center, Kalihi YMCA, Hawai`i Community Foundation, Princeton Review, America's Promise and Rep. Dennis Arakaki are committed to working with UH Manoa and Kalihi middle schools in this GEAR UP partnership.
For more information on Hawai'i's GEAR UP programs and community partners, visit www.cba.hawaii.edu/gearup. For more on the national GEAR UP initiative, visit www.ed.gov/gearup.
