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Greetings,
As I've discussed in many of my articles, one of the major barriers standing between students and a college education is a basic lack of awareness of the resources available to them. When students don't know about the help that's out there - such as grants, scholarships, and other forms of financial aid - they might not even attempt to go to college, thinking it's out of their reach. One of the challenges we face is finding ways to spread the message that college can be affordable, no matter what your background.
With this in mind, I'm happy to share that Great Lakes has launched our new faith-based initiative, focused on creating an awareness about college opportunities, within the faith community. This program has two major objectives: to spread the college access message, and to train church leaders and representatives on the tools and resources available to help their congregants go to college.
While the program is still in the early stages, one of the ways we hope to spread the college access message is by providing faith institutions with the materials they'll need to create their own college access programs.We want to encourage trusted members of the community to become actively involved when it comes to informing their congregants about the college opportunities that are out there waiting for them.
By partnering with the faith community, we're able to use an existing social network to get the college access message across, one that's an integral part of many students' and families' lives. And by increasing the number of places dedicated to talking about college opportunities, we increase the likelihood that more students will take advantage of them.
When it comes to opening the doors to education, we need to be willing to use all the channels available so that we can reach as many students as possible. If you want to know more about our faith-based initiative, feel free to contact me at outreachandaccess@glhec.org.
Until next time, have a great month!
La Toya Sykes, Director
Outreach and Access Awareness
Click a link below to view past Opening Doors articles.
