Foundation grant will provide academic coaches for Pittsburgh Promise students

CCAC and Carlow each will receive just short of $1 million to help Promise students succeed in college. The grants will cover four years of the Promise Coaches program.

The Promise provides college scholarships to city residents who attend Pittsburgh Public Schools from ninth grade through graduation and maintain a 2.5 grade-point average and a minimum 90% attendance record. Students receive up to $20,000 over four years and must attend post-secondary institutions in Pennsylvania.

CCAC and Carlow partner with the Promise to support and mentor scholarship recipients.

“Our data tell us that the Promise usage rate in certain high schools is very low, and our study of best practices across the country shows that investing in coaching at the high school level and in certain colleges ends up transforming that outcome,” Ghubril said. “This is a four-way partnership between Pittsburgh Public (Schools), CCAC, Carlow and the Pittsburgh Promise.”

The Promise will place two coaches each at Milliones and Perry and four at Carrick. Ghubril said coaches will be embedded and focus on helping students determine their interests, skills and options for the future, find resources that might be available to them, navigate job markets and develop good work habits.

In 2008, he said, 38% of Carrick students used a Promise scholarship. The rate at Milliones was 18%, and at Perry it was 11%.

“Here’s what we commit ourselves to do over the next four years: Increase the Promise usage rates in these schools by two-thirds at Carrick, double it at Milliones and triple it at Carrick,” Ghubril said.

Anthony Hamlet, the Pittsburgh schools superintendent, noted that about 50% of ninth-graders nationwide drop out of school.

“The promise with this juncture is actually going to meet students in ninth grade, which is awesome,” he said. “This program would also help students to do the important work of identifying their own talents and interests and matching them to resources and pathways to employment in our region and beyond.”

CCAC President Quintin Bullock said the grant would help the college expand its academic support and mentoring program to increase graduation rates for promise students.

“The outcomes that we look for in terms of increased retention rates, graduation rates, job placement and outcomes like that will continue to be enhanced,” said Suzanne Mellon, Carlow’s president.

Ghubril said the Promise must raise an additional $3 million for the additional scholarships it believes the program will produce.

“That’s the price of success,” he said.

Since 2008, the Promise has provided about $140 million in scholarships to 9,503 students. About 3,200 of those students graduated from college. UPMC funded the program for its first 10 years with grants totaling $100 million. The Promise has since relied on donations from foundations, corporations and individuals.