Educate Tomorrow Receives College Board's CollegeKeys Compact Innovation Award

MIAMI – Local non-profit, Educate Tomorrow (www.educatetomorrow.org) is a regional winner of the CollegeKeys Compact Innovation Award. The award was presented on Friday, March 8, 2013 by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center.

“It is an honor to be presented with the Innovation Award by College Board,” CEO Brett McNaught said. “We are thrilled to be recognized for developing an innovative program to support transitioning foster youth in the attainment of higher education.  We know that when young people have a supportive community around them they raise their expectations and succeed.”

The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center chose two regional winners to be recipients of the 2013 CollegeKeys Compact Innovation Awards. Each winner received a $5,000 award to help expand or sustain their program. Educate Tomorrow was the regional winner of the ‘Getting In’ award. Contestants were judged on relevance, innovation, impact and potential.

The CollegeKeys Compact was founded in 2007 after a report issued by the College Board found that too many qualified low- to moderate-income high school graduates do not enroll in a four-year college program. The report attributed this to poor preparation, low expectations and financial barriers. The ‘Getting In’ Award targets programs that focus on searching and recruiting low-income, high achieving students to be accepted into postsecondary institutions.

Educate Tomorrow is a Miami-based non-profit organization that provides one-on-one mentorship programs for local foster youth who are aging out of the foster care system and other students in need. These mentors help youth to further their education and put them on the road to independence. The mentors and Educate Tomorrow staff integrate activities to support the physical, emotional, social and academic needs of participating youth. These activities include one-on-one mentoring, life skills, educational success events, tutoring and career support.

Nationally, less than three percent of foster youth ever obtain a college degree. 44% of Educate Tomorrow’s students over 23 years old have a college degree or certification.  Foster youth in Florida have a great opportunity with the Road to Independence Scholarship, which pays for tuition and fees at any Florida university or college. The scholarship also enables them to receive nearly $1,000 per month until they are 23 years old to pay for living expenses. Educate Tomorrow helps and encourages foster youth to take advantage of the opportunities before them.

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Educate Tomorrow, Corp. (www.educatetomorrow.org) is an international, nonprofit, certified 501(c) 3 organization. Educate Tomorrow’s mission is to create independence for foster youth and other disadvantaged youth through education, mentoring, and life skills training. Educate Tomorrow addresses the issue of educational attainment by integrating activities designed to support the physical, emotional, social, and academic needs of current and former foster youth in Miami-Dade County. This integration creates a program that is ultimately more effective than a more traditional mentoring program. Educate Tomorrow is guided by the principles of collaboration, accountability, and civic engagement. 

Contact: Kristine B. Snively of Pristine PR at (954) 376-3683, or via e-mail at kristine@pristinepr.com.