July 21, 2008

CONTACT: Kimberly Gormley, Director, Marketing & Communications, Ohio College Access Network
Office: 614.947.3504, Cell: 614.668.2954, Email: gormleyk@ohiocan.org

Coalition to corral recent graduates who will advise kids how to go to college
AmeriCorps provides $50,000 to plan the initiative

Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio Community Service Council recently awarded a $50,000 grant to plan a statewide partnership that will recruit and train recent college graduates to advise high schools students how to access education beyond high school.

The Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) along with The Ohio State University Economic Access Initiative, Cleveland Scholarship Programs and Cincinnati Youth Collaborative will lead an AmeriCorps project that will expand upon the work of high school guidance counselors and college access advisors serving Ohio’s low-income and other at-risk youth. Young adults can draw upon their recent college experiences to offer fresh insight into preparing for, funding, attending and graduating from post-secondary schools.

School systems in Ohio often lack the resources to help students take the proper steps toward college. Modeled in part after the National College Access Network’s (NCAN) Advising Corps, the AmeriCorps grant partners are planning strategic assistance with both rural and urban emphases in northeast Ohio. Specifically, strategies in rural Lorain County and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will compliment the activities already taking place in Cincinnati during their second year with the AmeriCorps project.  

“OCAN is excited to expand AmeriCorps activities in Ohio because it will make a direct impact on the lives of students,” said Dr. Reginald A. Wilkinson, OCAN President and CEO. “This approach also supports the Ohio Board of Regents’ citation that one way to improve the state’s educational productivity is by encouraging collaborations that address unmet educational needs in underserved regions,” added Wilkinson.

Additionally, according to a January 2008 article published by the American Sociological Association, a school's commitment to helping students get into college can have a powerful effect on postsecondary attendance and counteract the negative impacts of poverty and poor family support for postsecondary education. Studies on the impact of pre-college counseling support the fact that advice offered in schools plays a significant role in students' college enrollment rates. When schools have systems, staff and resources in place to link students with postsecondary education and a culture that values college-going, students are more likely to enter four-year postsecondary institutions regardless of their race or socio-economic background.  

Upon completion of the grant’s planning phase, the partners will work to expand the AmeriCorps volunteer efforts already taking place in Greater Cincinnati to provide succinct college access advising statewide. 

The Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) was founded in 1999, by KnowledgeWorks Foundation, in collaboration with the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Business Roundtable.  OCAN works to establish college access programs across the state and is the first statewide coordinating body for college access programs in the nation. The goal of the organization is to help more Ohio students pursue postsecondary education through the work of local college access programs, which provide financial aid advising, last dollar grants, career guidance, and other services.  Currently, 36 college access programs serve nearly 300 of Ohio’s 612 school districts, and 17 private/parochial schools in 46 counties touching over 175,000 students annually.