FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 1, 2010 

CONTACT: Kimberly Gormley
Director, Marketing & Communications
Office: 614.947.3504, Mobile: 614.668.2954
Email: gormleyk@ohiocan.org

Brian A. Palmer
Public Relations Intern
Office: 614.947.3508
Email: palmerb@ohiocan.org

OCAN Members Receive $135,000 in KnowHow2GO Local Network Expansion Grants

Columbus, Ohio –The Ohio College Access Network recently awarded $135,000 to seven college access programs as part of a KnowHow2GO Local Network Expansion Grant. This opportunity enables traditional members to expand the college access network in their local communities by developing, broadening and formalizing partnerships with related service providers, school districts, local businesses, legislators and other relevant organizations. Grant recipients include: Cleveland Scholarship Programs, Greene County College Success Partnership, Holmes County, I CAN Center of Excellence, I KNOW I CAN, Southern Ohio Center of Excellence, and Stark Education Partnership.

Funding for such initiatives was awarded to OCAN by the Lumina Foundation for Education. Lumina Foundation strives to “increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.” In order to meet the educational needs of a knowledge economy, the Lumina Foundation believes that possessing high-quality postsecondary credentials is essential and that attaining degrees and certificates provides a clear pathway to further education and employment. OCAN hopes to assist Lumina in achieving this goal by expanding the reach of its members’ college access programs in the communities they serve.

OCAN relies on a variety of resources including Networks That Work by Paul Vandeventer and Myrna Mandell, Ph.D., to encourage its members to develop working community partnerships that further assist students in degree attainment beyond high school. By strengthening community partnerships, members can more thoroughly address the educational, cultural, and economic scope of college access.

The goals of grant recipients can be reached in a multitude of ways. The following are two examples of the many expansion initiatives that will take place across the state during 2010 and 2011. Holmes County College Access Program is implementing a new Holmes County Higher Education Network that will bring together professionals in the higher education and secondary education fields on a monthly basis to share information, techniques and best practices. I CAN Center of Excellence is forging a new partnership with the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce that will develop a key initiative in 2010 to cooperate in promoting college access.