mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- Durham Technical Community College has been awarded a $300,000 grant that will aid high school dropouts.
The grant, announced Tuesday, was given by the Gateway to College National Network and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Early College High School Initiative.
Christine Kelly-Kleese, Durham Tech's dean of student engagement and transitions, called the creation of a local Gateway to College program "an answer to a question that we've struggled so mightily with."
Although Durham Tech currently has about 40 students under the age of 18 who are pursuing high school degrees or an equivalent, Gateway will be the college's first programmatic attempt to help 16- and 17-year-old dropouts.
Since the population is so difficult to serve, Gateway will offer a cocoon-like environment and hands-on youth counselors.
"We will take care of transportation, we will take care of food if that's an issue, child care if that's an issue -- whatever the life issue that gets in the way, we intend to work with the student to manage that so that the student can persist," Kelly-Kleese said.
One trustee was so excited about Gateway to College that she asked when it would be available to dropouts from the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school systems. Kelly-Kleese explained that the college would have to make sure first that it is able to launch Gateway smoothly and second that it has enough space to expand.
College officials emphasized that the Durham public school system will remain focused on dropout prevention and that Gateway to College will not compete with regular high schools.
Durham officials have been working on this project since 20 local leaders visited Portland, Ore., in January. They spent several hours touring Portland's Gateway program, the nation's first, and came away impressed.
The travelers included Durham Tech President Bill Ingram, Superintendent Carl Harris, school board Chairwoman Minnie Forte-Brown, City Manager Tom Bonfield, County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow, and three individuals who were on or later joined Tech's Board of Trustees: David Dodson, president of Chapel Hill's MDC, the trip organizer; Barker French of the Durham At-Risk Youth Collaborative; and Duke Professor John Burness.
After Tuesday's meeting of the Durham Tech trustees, Dodson said Gateway to College "was the right program seen by the right people and handed over most importantly to the right people to bring it over the finish line."
Ongoing program funding will come from the Durham public school system, which will pay Durham Tech $5,600 for every student who enrolls in this "dropout recovery program." The goal is to enroll 50 students in August, 125 students in subsequent years.
The grant, school system payments and state money that community colleges automatically receive for enrolling students in college classes should bring in $2.5 million over three years, Kelly-Kleese said.
The new program is to be run by Brendon Comer, who launched Gateway at the Community College of Philadelphia in 2006.
The program will be housed in what is now called the Basic Skills Center. When that building's current occupant, the Basic Skills Program, is relocated to the White Building, which is now undergoing renovations, its home will be renamed after and wholly dedicated to Gateway to College.
