Publish Date: Thursday January 01, 2009

PCC offers education alternative for high school dropouts

Monica Moore has been named to head the program.

The Pueblo West View

Helping Pueblo County reduce its high poverty rate by providing high school dropouts with an effective new education alternative will be the charge of the newly hired director of the Gateway to College program. Monica Moore was selected from a pool of outstanding applicants for her ability to provide leadership, coordination, direction and vision.

Moore most recently has been an academic advisor at PCC since July. Prior to that, the Pueblo native was the assistant director of the Colorado GEAR UP program for eight years and business manager at the Rosemount Museum for 10 years. She has both her bachelor’s degree in business administration and her MBA from the University of Southern Colorado. She and her husband Van have three children.

In September, Pueblo was selected as one of six locations nationwide to replicate the Gateway to College program during the upcoming year. Founded in 2000 at Portland Community in Oregon, the Gateway to College program is now operating at 17 additional colleges across the country. According to Laurel Dukehart, executive director of the Gateway to College National Network, Pueblo was picked because Pueblo Community College and Pueblo City Schools exhibited an exceptionally strong collaboration. The Pueblo partnership will granted $300,000 in start-up funds over three years.

Pueblo’s Gateway to College program will serve high school dropouts and at-risk students between the ages of 16 and 20 (17-20 in Pueblo County), enabling them to complete their high school diploma requirements while simultaneously earning college credits toward an associate degree or certificate.

Gateway to College National Network is part of the Early College High School Initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and supported by Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based think tank. Gateway to College National Network is focused on reducing the following national statistics associated with high school dropouts:

• Adults without a high school diploma are twice as high school graduates to be unemployed.
• Dropouts earn $260,000 less over a lifetime than high school graduates.
• Nearly 70% of inmates in state prisons are dropouts.
• Nearly half of dropouts are on welfare.
• The life expectancy of dropouts is 9.2 years lower than high school graduates.
• The average 45-year-old dropout is in worse health than the average 65-year-old high school graduate.

"We are very excited to offer another opportunity for students in our community to re- engage in education and earn a high school diploma," said Juanita Fuentes, who heads the Community Education and Training Department at PCC. "They will have an opportunity to become successful by committing and working toward high school completion while earning college credit. Our team is committed to the success of this program."

In Pueblo, Gateway will tackle head-on a number of problematic statistics:

• Pueblo County has the highest poverty rate - 8.2% - of any county in Colorado, fueled by the number of dropouts here.
• Hispanics represent 67% of the high school dropouts.
• The vast majority of dropouts (76%) occur in the 10th and 11th grades.
• The average dropout age is 16 years old.
• Nearly half of dropouts in grades 9-12 are more than 10 credits short of the 22 required for graduation.
• The annual lost potential earnings for non-graduates in Pueblo County is more than $5 million.
• The annual lost potential earnings for high school dropouts in Pueblo County exceeds $5 million.

"The Gateway to College grant partnership between Pueblo Community College and Pueblo City Schools will be a significant component in the arsenal to address the student dropout problem in Pueblo,” said John Covington, City Schools superintendent.

“This grant conforms to many significant goals of the community’s lead Strategic Plan as well by bringing resources to the table to provide all students with the tools and support necessary to stay on track toward high school graduation, higher education and as a productive member of Pueblo’s economy.”

Moore will work with local school districts and community organizations to identify high school dropouts for enrollment in the Gateway to College program. She also will work with business, labor, industry, governmental agencies and community service organizations to address issues related to the Gateway program and build a referral network.

PCC will oversee the grant, which is expected to impact over 300 high school dropout students during the three years.

Between January and August 2009, Gateway to College National Network will provide training to resource specialists and other staff who will be hired to implement the program receive training provided by Gateway to College National Network. Students will be able to enroll in the program through City School beginning next summer, and the Gateway to College program will begin serving students in classes at PCC in August 2009.

To learn more about how to enroll in the program, call Pueblo City Schools’ Valerie Vigil at 549-7191 or PCC’s Juanita Fuentes at 549-3255.

For more information on Gateway to College, visit www.gatewaytocollege.org. 
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