Programs

Higher Education Resource Centers

Bridges to the Future

Overview • Mission • Goals • Objectives • Services and Activities Provided • Staff

Overview
Since 1999, the Boston Education Collaborative (BEC) has pioneered four Higher Education Resource Centers (HERCs) in Boston's South End, Dorchester, Lawrence, and Worcester. These centers provide programs such as SAT preparation, tutoring, and mentoring to help and inspire students in their academic performance. They also provide college and career information and guidance to inner-city students and their families.

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Mission
The BEC and the Higher Education Information Center (HEIC) seek to partner with churches and faith-based organizations in New England to provide college and career information to youth (and their families) in underserved communities in a safe, familiar, and easily accessible environment. This joint initiative will serve as a pilot creating a model for how such centers may be replicated in houses of worship throughout New England.

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Goals

  • Motivate, orient, and prepare minority youth and underserved populations toward the pursuit and completion of post-secondary education.
  • Create a collaborative model among churches and other relevant community based organizations to improve access to post-secondary education for underserved youth.
  • Increase the capacity of churches to sustain the work over a long term.
  • Develop a model for Higher Education Resource Centers that may be replicated throughout New England.

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Objectives

  • Create a convenient, safe, easily accessible, local place where youth and their families, their advocates, and educators can obtain user friendly information about preparing for and entering post-secondary education.
  • Increase the number of underserved youth who have access to accurate, timely, and relevant information pertaining to the pursuit of post-secondary education (i.e., better prepare public school educated youth for post-secondary education).
  • Provide leadership training for youth and provide accurate educational information to them so that they in turn can pass it on to others through their peer networks.
  • Provide support, referrals, and resources to youth and their families in order to assist them with the transition from high school to college, and throughout their college experience.
  • Improve the flow of information, regarding credentials needed for successful post-secondary education, among educational institutions and churches and other community-based service organizations.
  • Enhance church capacity to better serve church and un-churched youth, and ultimately the community surrounding it.
  • Build awareness among congregations, the community and other supporters concerning the financial, human, and in-kind resources needed to sustain the work of preparing learners for successful post-secondary education.
  • Nurture and Develop a core of community relationships that can promote and contribute to the preparation of learners for pursuit and completion of post-secondary education.

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Services and Activities Provided

  • Educational guidance for middle and high school students and their families
  • Library of information on colleges, financial aid, scholarships and careers
  • Internet access
  • Assistance with college applications
  • Assistance with financial aid applications
  • One-on-one counseling about high school preparation, post-secondary options, and college survival skills
  • Testing preparation/SAT preparation classes or tutoring
  • Parent outreach
  • Support Network for students through high school and college experience
  • Leadership training
  • Career awareness
  • Mentoring
  • Tutoring
  • Campus Visits
  • Clearinghouse of higher education information for educators and guidance counselors

The Role of Churches in Mapping Out a Road to Higher Education (From Emmanuel Research Review): “College Prep Ministry in Boston: León de Judá” is the lead article in this issue of the Emmanuel Research Review. Supplementary articles showing different ministry models and an extensive resource list of print and online resources could spark the interest of churches to start their own formal or informal ministry to guide young people toward higher education goals.

Guide to Resources on Higher Education for Urban and Minority Students
Includes information on college admissions, financial aid resources, and preparation for college.

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Staff

  • , Program Coordinator, Higher Education Resource Centers

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