Everett Community College issued the following announcement.
Everett Community College will receive a $50,000 Early Stage Rise Prize to pilot a Weekend College for student parents.
EvCC was one of 15 recipients selected nationwide from a group of 300 applicants. The Rise Prize was created by Imaginable Futures – a venture of The Omidyar Group – and the Lumina Foundation, along with a group of partner organizations, to invest in innovative solutions supporting student parents.
EvCC is the only prize recipient in Washington state and is one of two community colleges in the country to receive the prize.
EvCC’s planned Weekend College will offer hybrid classes (face-to-face on weekends and online) to student parents. Drop-in childcare, advising and counseling will be available to parents on the weekend. Parents will also be able to request the technology they need for their classes. EvCC plans to start Weekend College in fall 2021 with up to 50 students.
“We are excited to win an early stage grant for the Rise Prize. The Weekend College model is our path to providing additional flexibility for students. It is an innovative concept that will increase retention and success rates for our most vulnerable populations,” said EvCC President Daria Willis, who was a single mother to a toddler while she earned her degree from Florida State University.
The goal of the Weekend College is to increase the likelihood that student parents, especially particularly those from historically underserved races and ethnicities, have the resources to be successful in earning a degree or certificate.
About 20 percent of EvCC students enrolled in pre-college classes have children, which is why the Weekend College will include pre-college and college-level classes. More than 1,000 EvCC students are parents. Childcare is the most significant challenge for student parents.
“Student parents are by far some of the best and brightest. They are resilient and resourceful, but often are left out of the higher education conversation, and therefore lack support,” said Wayne Taliaferro, strategy officer for finance and federal policy at Lumina Foundation. “If we're truly going to foster a system of higher education that centers equity in every way, then we have to prioritize student parents. At close to 4 million, they need and deserve a reimagined system that truly works for them."
For more information on the Rise Prize, visit www.theriseprize.com.
Original source can be found here.
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