partners in 2011 was building up the quality of out-ofschool activities children were engaged in by forming the West Contra Costa Out-Of-School Time (OTS) Collaborative. This collaborative initiative is geared to develop and improve upon the quality of activities children are engaged in during the precious hours of after-school time and summer vacations. The activities a student is involved in during these times can have lasting effects on their chances of succeeding in college later, according to Mackey. “Studies show that the school-time-learning period is no longer sufficient to really preparing a child effectively for collage and to make sure that they stay abreast to their peers who may be getting summer and after-school activities,” he described. “We felt that we needed to address the needs of the kids with high quality programs for afterschool and summer period, whether it be STEM education or arts and music, our partner organizations offer all kinds of connective activates that really are integral to a child’s education and growth. Addressing the governing purpose of the Ed Fund, The West County College Access Network (WCCAN) was created. This initiative pulls together more than 20 different partner organizations to help students and their parents navigate through every part of the college experience. Through a variety of workshops such as cash for college night, road to college workshop as well as other meetings the WCCAN is able to not only helping parents and students with the logistics of college admissions but also with the cultural differences some students will encounter. One of the fundamental ways to get students into college is to show them how to pay for it, said Mackey. “Prior to 2011 the FASFA enrollment in our districts was 33% and as a result of our campaign activities we have seen the number rise to 66% of parents and students completing the FASFA application.” The FASFA application became a priority for the Ed Fund because, as Mackey described, once a student knows they qualify for financial aid then they are more likely to actually go onto college. “There are a lot of kids out there who want to go to college but they don’t have the financial resources and end up not even applying,” he said. In addition to helping students find tuition funding through financial aid, the Ed Fund has been directly funding scholarships ranging from $1000-$5000 to an average of about eighty students per year for the past four years. Mackey pointed out that these scholarships to not come without strings, the students must continue to meet set criteria throughout their first year of college. “We expect them to commit to the cohort of fellow students during the year when they are receiving support and that they will provide a blog on our website that allows other students and visitors to our site a glance into the college experience from their perspective.” Mackey described. “Also that they will do community service here in the community, that they will share their experience with the next year’s students and provide their expertise and resources to those students so that they will be able to succeed in their first year and go onto a successful second year of college.” Mackey is proud to say that “95 percent of our scholarship students go onto their second year of college from their first year, which is much higher than the national or even the state average.” With the strides that have been made, Mackey said they need to do more for students earlier in their education. “Quite frankly we are not touching as many of the students as we need to. We are not touching the students in their freshman and sophomore years. The programs don’t often get to the students until their junior or senior year.” The goal is, Mackey said, to begin working with the students when they are in middle school. “This way by the time they become juniors and seniors we are not doing remediation but they are actually on the path to succeed on their college journey.” Ideally Mackey said he would like to see students being prepared for college success in elementary school. “The districts that are doing that are seeing more success than districts that aren’t because if you can inspire a child to see themselves as someone who is capable of going to college then that often serves as a motivator for them in their studies to do the things that are going to set them on the pathway to success in college.” Supporting students on their path towards college success also means supporting those in the community. Through the Teaching Excellence Award and the Art & Music Impact Grants, The Ed Fund and their partners are able to recognize and uplift the work of outstanding individuals and groups throughout the community. “We have a pot of gold that was bequeathed to us two One-on-one college advising at the Road to College
Contra Costa Marketplace - April 2016
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