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Overcoming obstacles through a commitment to education has been Cleveland Scholarship Programs, Inc.’s (CSP’s) credo for forty years. Starting with the first students supported by CSP from Glenville and East Tech High Schools in 1966, we have been devoted to ensuring that all those seeking to better themselves through education have access to the necessary resources to make this a reality.
This dedication goes far beyond the financial assistance provided through the scholarships we award to include cultivation and nurturance of talent, character building and encouragement, and positive reinforcement. It is CSP’s advising and supportive services that help our recipients with their studies through to graduation, enabling them to go on to build a better life for themselves, their families and the community.
CSP is acutely aware of the significance of “investing in futures,” the theme for this year’s annual report, as it is education that bridges the gaps between poverty and prosperity, despair and hope, emptiness and fulfillment. This was another significant year for CSP in its endeavors to help transform a generation of students into one that is prepared to confront the challenges of tomorrow.
This year Cleveland Scholarship Programs is particularly proud of the outcomes of several of its innovative programs, each designed to address the emerging needs of our community through education.
Adult Learner Program
The Adult Learner Program provides college access information, advising and scholarship support to non-traditional students seeking to enhance or establish vital skills. This is particularly crucial to our community as we see an increasing number of individuals seeking alternative and new careers.
Established in 1990 in response to the growing numbers of adults entering or re-enrolling in college, the Adult Learner Program serves students 19 years old and above in 11 counties–Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit and Trumbull counties.
Last year, CSP awarded more than $630,000 to 451 adult learners.
For more information, click here.
To download the Adult Learner Application, click here.
To download the Adult Learner Exit Survey, click here.
Advisory Services
The Advisory Services Program provides grade-appropriate information and advising to high school students to enable them to access educational options beyond high school. This program is essential to providing students and their families with the information and assistance they need to apply for financial aid, scholarships and access to postsecondary academic opportunities. CSP’s advisors augment and enhance the existing services from the school’s guidance staff.
During academic year 2006-07, CSP advisors touched the lives of more than 11,500 9th-12th grade students on-site in 60 schools in greater Cleveland and Lorain County. Even more impressive, $2.8 million in scholarships was disbursed to more than 2,000 individuals.
For more information, click here.
Educational Talent Search
Talent Search is a program funded by the United States Department of Education that has been a part of CSP since 1998. It identifies and encourages qualified youth to complete secondary school and to undertake a program of postsecondary education. Talent Search advisors are working with students in six schools, serving at least 600 individuals a year. Last year, 73% of these students were both low-income and potentially first-generation college students.
For more information, click here.
Click here to download the latest issue of the Educational Talent Search newsletter
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)
GEAR UP, a federally funded program in which CSP is a partner, works with middle schools and high schools, ensuring that students are prepared for, pursue and succeed in postsecondary education.
CSP’s GEAR UP advisors are working with students in Westwood Junior High School and Elyria High School, serving more than 400 individuals per year. Our dedicated advisors provide tutoring , after school services and mentoring to these students. Further, students participate in CSP’s cultural enrichment field trips, traveling to college campuses, museums and science centers both locally and nationally during the summer months. Students are exposed to a menu of proven college access “best practices,” such as tutoring, enrichment programs, early awareness activities and college/financial aid advising.
For more information, click here.
Resource Center
CSP’s college access Resource Center serves as a portal to the community by providing college access assistance and personalized counseling outside of the high school setting. It includes a comprehensive library of information, computer lab access and advising, and is free and open to the public 6 days a week. The Resource Center is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. through 1 p.m. No appointment is necessary.
Download the CSP Resource Center flyer.
For the Resource Center brochure, Click here.
Learn-to-Work
Learn-to-Work builds on partnerships with educators and corporations in the area to create a pool of educated and trained individuals ready for the workforce. CSP has contracted with local employers to identify students with a propensity for careers in specified areas within their respective organizations. Using guidelines provided by these organizations, CSP screens students that may ultimately qualify for a position with these organizations as early as in the tenth grade.
A CSP advisor works with these students throughout their junior and senior years of high school, first identifying areas of weakness in math, science, reading and interpersonal/communications skills. During the summer between the junior and senior years, each student is enrolled in the highly rigorous Learn-to-Work Summer Academy for a two-week period, receiving a stipend to attend. The Academy consists of laboratories and instructive sessions with professionals in the various fields of study. At the end of each week, students are responsible for making presentations on the materials they have learned.
Subsequent to the Academy, each student is tracked throughout their senior year and receives tutoring services in areas where they are deficient. Qualifying students are then eligible for a scholarship from CSP to attend any PELL eligible 2-year, 4-year or certificate program. The student also makes a commitment to the employer to come work for them after completing their postsecondary training. Some employers may choose to offer internships and co-op programs while the students are pursuing a postsecondary education.
Six to Success
The goal of the Six to Success Program is to give students an early start on the path to postsecondary education by providing services to Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) students in sixth through twelfth grade. Beginning in academic year 2005-2006, CSP will offer college access services in a group format to students in sixth through eleventh grade, including career exploration, college preparation and financial aid awareness. Students in eleventh and twelfth grades will receive individual college access and retention services. This includes SAT/ACT registration and completion, college application, FAFSA completion and scholarship opportunities. In 2006-07, more than $760,000 in scholarships was awarded to eligible CMSD students.
CSP hopes this program will show students that enrolling in college isn’t success – graduating is. Regardless of the type of degree a student earns, the organization wants them to understand that hard work and community involvement should continue after graduation.
For more information, click here.
STEP UP (Steering Talented Engaged Pupils to Undergraduate Programs)
Studies demonstrate that students need to build an awareness of postsecondary education well before they reach high school. CSP is devoted to helping students reach their dreams by putting them on the right path through the academic pipeline early in life.
A unique partnership was developed as a test model in 2003 to provide college preparation and awareness to a core group of 35 first graders in the East Cleveland City School District. CSP will follow the students from first grade through twelfth grade, helping them aspire to, plan for and ultimately be awarded scholarship funds to enroll in postsecondary education.
This innovative program is an early college access initiative, which provides the student peer group with early awareness enrichment activities, college access advising and scholarship dollars for higher education. In 2019, when the success of this model is validated, it will serve as a prototype for communities across the country to follow. Funded by anonymous donors associated with The Cleveland Foundation, this partnership with the East Cleveland City Schools has flourished and the cohort of students, now third graders, are blossoming with the direction of a CSP advisor dedicated to their development and the enrichment of their families.
For more information, click here.
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