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Enroot in the News

United Way features Enroot’s Georgia Lederman: In the Face of Challenge, Paving a Way to College and Career

Author: Brigid Boyd

The national college admissions bribery scandal has sparked a new level of attention on the competition and costs that together put college out of reach to many students. While the celebrity aspect of the story garners public attention, there is much work to do to level the playing field and invest in the potential of all young people.

And even though the process is incredibly complex and time-consuming, many families have the knowledge and resources to help their teenagers select the best school for them, navigate test prep courses, and apply for financial aid.

AVOIDING “VERIFICATION MELT” AND OTHER CHALLENGES

However, students from low-income families or households with limited English proficiency, or students who are first-generation in their families to go to college, are often on their own when it comes to the college admissions process. And with the ratio of students to school counselors averaging 410 to one in Massachusetts, it’s unrealistic to expect that the schools can do it alone.

“There simply are not enough school counselors to help those students coming from homes where neither parent has finished college, and perhaps even high school, and where the family’s financial situation may make college seem completely out of reach,” says Linda E. Saris, Executive Director at LEAP for Education in Salem. “Research tells us that underserved students need extra support and resources to make it successfully through post-secondary education.”

Georgia Lederman, Manager of College Success and Alumni Engagement at the Cambridge-based Enroot, adds that when English is not the first language at home, families have difficulties understanding and translating the nuanced and complex details of the college application process. As a result, these students receive less support writing critical scholarship and college essays.

For students experiencing homelessness or not living with their parents, the process of gathering all forms of tax documentation, ordering tax transcripts from the IRS, printing different school-specific verification forms for each college they have applied to and sending signed copies through the appropriate channels correctly — and on time — can be overwhelming. They are particularly so if the responsibility for those steps falls to the student. Kaitlyn Farmer, the Project Launch Coordinator at RAW Art Works in Lynn, says the cost of not completing all of these verification steps can be devastating, resulting in the loss of grants and aid needed for students to attend the college of their choice.

“As a college access organization, we are here to ensure no student slips through the cracks and suffers from what the industry has deemed ‘verification melt,’” Farmer said. “No low-income student should have to navigate the complexities of financial aid verification on their own. But without the help of supportive college access programs, that is the reality many will face.”

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

Support for vulnerable students can begin well before they decide on their post-graduation path. This year, United Way is investing $5.58 million in 82 agencies that provide college and career readiness programming, funds that will help these organizations reach 44,803 school-age youth.

Recognizing that certain students  — low-income, first-generation to go to college, or who are from communities of color — need extra support and resources to make it successfully through post-secondary education, community-based programs are filling a critical need.

Enroot, for instance, matches students one-to-one with mentors and tutors and hosts monthly workshops that address essays and college processes. Their tutors and mentors support students with SAT preparation, referring students to free SAT preparation courses. Enroot works proactively to ensure students are skilled in financial literacy and budgeting and supports students in choosing financially feasible colleges. They also help students complete the FAFSA application process by partnering with uAspire, a nonprofit dedicated to financial aid literacy.

LEAP for Education in Salem recognizes the high potential of the students who are typically locked out of the traditional college pipeline and provides an on-ramp to 350 students in Salem, Peabody, and Gloucester into college. LEAP provides students with academic enrichment, community engagement, college and career exploration and advising, and personal development opportunities.

GETTING THROUGH ONE DOOR CAN OPEN MANY OTHERS

Salem School Committee member Manny Cruz can personally attest to the support these programs provide young people. Manny started attending LEAP when he was in middle school. He came from a low-income, single parent household where English was not spoken, and was a disengaged student, earning well below-average grades. The staff provided academic support, enrichment, and help with his social and emotional well-being throughout his middle and high school years.

LEAP staff helped Manny explore his interest in politics and social justice more deeply. Through weekly meetings his senior year with his LEAP adviser, he completed all his admissions applications, received enough financial aid to cover his tuition and enrolled at Salem State University to pursue a degree in Political Science. Wanting more work-based learning experiences, LEAP staff once again worked with Manny to submit his transfer application to Northeastern University and introduced him to a scholarship which provided him with full tuition.

Through social connections made by LEAP staff, Manny participated and later became Chair of Governor Deval Patrick’s Youth Council and earned a prestigious fellowship in the courts. During his time at Northeastern, Manny completed three co-op experiences and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Political Science.

Now, he’s giving back to the community that supported him.  After graduation, Manny was hired as a legislative aide to a state representative and won election to Salem’s School Committee on his first try. Manny joined the LEAP Board in 2018.

“LEAP staff put me on a pathway to college and career success by providing me with high quality experiential learning, academic support and mentoring,” Cruz said. “With LEAP I began to believe in myself and was able create a blueprint for my future.”

In the last 5 years, of the students who have actively attended LEAP’s programs for two years or more, 90% have enrolled in college, 72% have earned a college degree, and 85% have earned post-secondary credentials or degrees.

“Thanks to funding from the United Way, LEAP works tirelessly to close the opportunity and achievement gaps for hundreds more underserved students who have the potential to fill the jobs of tomorrow,” said LEAP’s Executive Director Linda Saris.

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Opinion Piece Featured in Cambridge Chronicle

Ben Clark, Enroot’s Executive Director, wrote an open letter to the white community of Cambridge featured in the Cambridge Chronicle.

“For a city that has long championed civil rights and discourse on equity and inclusion, it is alarming how Cambridge’s ongoing struggles with racism remain a daily part of life for so many residents of color. Sadly, most white people like me remain passive in a situation that demands active resistance.

In recent months there have been countless incidents of racism and hatred around greater Boston -- from graffiti in schools to death threats made to Muslim students. Here in Cambridge, the two racist incidents at our high school in the last week were just the latest to put the issue on full display.

These disturbing occurrences point to a much broader and unfortunate trend across the country, as captured in November’s FBI report, which highlighted a 17 percent spike in hate crimes nationwide in the last year. It’s important to measure and condemn such overt acts of oppression, yet many more subtle moments go unrecorded and unnoticed every day by those who are not victims.

Everyone is susceptible to implicit bias in thought and action. But those of us who are white and benefit each day from our white privilege must be especially honest with ourselves about our ugliest biases and all the ways they manifest themselves in discriminatory actions.

To my fellow white community members, I urge you -- take time to look yourself humbly in the mirror and consider the biases you hold that cause you to view people of color in an inferior light. Search your memory for moments in recent months and years when you acted in a way that diminished the dignity and well-being of people of color in your life.”

Read the full article here.

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Enroot Featured in Christian Science Monitor

What's made rates of degree attainment for immigrant students spike? A recent Christian Science Monitor article featured Enroot’s work and our students, written by Jasmine Heyward.

A college education bestows undeniable career advantages. What can be learned from the astonishing successes of immigrant students in the US over the last 30 years?

“At Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) in Cambridge, Mass., students flood into the international student center after the bell rings, marking the end of the school day.

One of them is Nafis Rahman, a high school senior from Bangladesh who arrived in the United States in 2016. After spending his first year in classes specifically for English-language learners, he’s now able to take courses with the mainstream students at CRLS. His favorite: Advanced Placement Computer Science.

Greeting him and others are staff from Enroot, a nonprofit that works with immigrant high school students in Cambridge and Somerville, Mass. They pepper the students with questions: Are you coming to the leadership workshop this week? When was the last time you talked to your mentor?

It’s the kind of holistic approach that students like Nafis say they find helpful. He has received tutoring, mentoring, and an internship from Enroot – and is now applying to college.

“Tomorrow I’m going to submit applications to all the UMass [schools] and WPI,” he says, referring to Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass.

Across the country, the education levels of immigrants have been steadily rising over the past several decades, partly because of programs like Enroot that focus on providing long-term support. In 1980, about 16 percent of immigrants had earned a bachelor’s degree. By 2016, the number grew to 30 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. This increase has all but closed the gap between immigrants and US-born residents: 31.6 percent of those born in the US have a bachelor’s degree.

While immigrants from South and East Asia are most likely to hold a bachelor’s degree, and college graduates from those groups are more likely to remain in the US to work, educational attainment is rising among all ethnicities and origin countries. For example, the number of Mexican immigrants 25 and older with a high school diploma has more than doubled since 1980 – from 11.4 to 25.2 percent. Experts say it’s necessary to take the long view to see those numbers rise more.

Educators who work with immigrant students, especially at the high school level, say it’s necessary to take the long view to see those numbers rise even more.

Sandra Cañas, Enroot’s Cambridge program director, has found that many of the immigrant students who arrive at CRLS are highly driven and hold themselves to high standards but need extra resources as they adjust to a new learning experience.

“Some of the students come with one parent, and they don’t have the support or the guidance they need to make decisions in regards to school issues,” she says. “The whole process is so daunting ... we feel that it is important that students get the support they need for whatever they want to do.”’

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The Immigrant Experience: Learning Through Art and Community Voice

Enroot is honored to participate in Cambridge Community Foundation's event. Learn more about the immigrant experience through poetry and stories of those living in our community today, featuring Enroot’s students. We hope you can join us on Monday, September 26th, 5:30 PM at Harvard Yard.

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"If a society permits one portion of its citizenry to be menaced or destroyed, then, very soon, no one in that society is safe." — James Baldwin

We have seen the inhumane and unjust treatment of immigrant families and children in our country and our communities, but what is the effect on the human being? Learn more about the immigrant experience through poetry and stories of those living in our community today at this innovative Cambridge Community Foundation experience. Standing beside Teresita Fernández's Harvard public art project, Autumn (...Nothing Personal), we will learn about how this work was inspired by James Baldwin's 1964 essay, Nothing Personal, published at the height of the civil rights movement. Local poets, storytellers, students, and dancers will personalize and bring to life the themes of disconnection, injustice and divisiveness in America, as well as the hope that love, light and trust can bring. We hope you can join us for this unique experience.

Special thanks to the Harvard University Committee on the Arts for this community platform.

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Enroot Awarded Mentoring Grant of $10,000

Enroot Awarded Mentoring Grant of $10,000

Enroot announced it has been awarded a Mentoring Matching Grant of $10,000 from Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP), a statewide organization fueling the movement to expand empowering youth-adult relationships in Massachusetts. Enroot is one of 37 mentoring programs throughout the Commonwealth to receive a Mentoring Matching Grant.

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