| Name | Dan |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Challener |
| Home Address | 1105 Havenwood Drive Signal Mountain, TN 37377 United States |
| Organization Name | Chattanooga Hamilton County Public Education Fund dba Public Education Foundation |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | As president of Public Education Foundation, I am responsible for the overall direction, programs, and financial well-being of the organization. I have served in this role for 22 years. |
| Organization Address | 835 Georgia Avenue Suite 400 Chattanooga, TN 37402 United States |
| Website | https://www.pefchattanooga.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-668-2424 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423-802-7148 |
| Email Address | dan@pefchattanooga.org |
| Alternate Email Address | jmartin@pefchattanooga.org |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Our project addresses one of the greatest barriers to economic well-being that faces Chattanooga’s young people, a barrier that the COVID-19 pandemic made much worse. Over half of all of Chattanooga’s economically disadvantaged students who successfully graduate from a public high school and enroll in college do not complete their first year of post-secondary education. This lack of success has a huge, negative economic impact on these students and our city. COVID-19 made this significant problem even worse. According to national, state, and local data, since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students who did not successfully complete their first or second year of college has increased dramatically. Our project, which we call “The Gateway Scholars Project,” addresses this problem that will have an enormous negative economic impact on hundreds of Chattanooga’s citizens and our region. National, state, and local data all document that earning a post-secondary degree or certificate is the single most effective pathway to economic self-sufficiency. Conversely, students who never secure a credential beyond a high school diploma face severe challenges earning a salary that empowers them to raise a family, buy a house, and live comfortably. “The Gateway Scholars Project” will provide hundreds of Chattanooga students the support they need to earn a degree or a credential that will enable them to thrive in Chattanooga. The project will also bring together leaders from six to eight institutions of higher education to discuss, develop, and ultimately implement strategies that will increase the chances of success of low-income, Black, and Hispanic students. Taken together, the direct services to students and the institutional review and changes will catalyze important, lasting change to the City of Chattanooga. “The Gateway Scholars Project” began in the summer of 2019. A group of leaders from a few community institutions came together with the goal of increasing the college matriculation, retention, and graduation rates of the graduates from the six public high schools with the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged students. The individuals involved in this project included the Chancellor of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, President of Chattanooga State Community College, Superintendent of Hamilton County Schools, CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, and the presidents of Benwood Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, and Public Education Foundation. Investing considerable time and institutional resources as well as funds from a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, these leaders designed and then launched a set of strategies that they believed would provide the support that students from the six high schools need to earn a degree. After two and a half years of work, there is clear, irrefutable evidence that the strategies are working: more economically disadvantaged students are having success and are on track to earn a college degree. And this is true despite a global pandemic that negatively impacted low-income citizens and Black and Hispanic students the hardest. From September 2018 to June of 2019, the community leaders analyzed data, interviewed students, reviewed an extensive body of research on successful college completion strategies, and consulted a large number of local and national experts. Ultimately, the group agreed on six core strategies to help first and second year students succeed. Those strategies are: · College Advancement Mentors (CAMs): highly trained adults who provide personalized and, if needed, intense support for students from their senior year of high school through the first two years of college. CAMs provide individualized support that helps students enroll in college and then keep them on track and in school no matter the hurdles they may face. CAMs also provide regular feedback to the post-secondary institutions about how they can change policies, practices, and student support services to better support their students. · Summer Bridge Opportunities: programs that take place in the summer after high school graduation and provide students with information and coaching that ensures they begin their college career successfully. · Learning Communities: groups of students placed in cohesive teams where they are taught by equity-minded professors who have undergone professional development on teaching strategies that optimize success of first-generation college students. · Non-Tuition Financial Support: emergency funds that cover unexpected costs that may trip up the progress of students. · Data Sharing: Hamilton County Schools, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga State Community College, and Public Education Foundation, using an extensive and legally approved agreement, share data that tracks student progress and provides CAMs and partners with timely information that helps continuously improve our efforts. · Community Consortium: From the very first days of “The Gateway Scholars Project,” the leaders of the institutions involved agreed to participate in quarterly meetings where they could review data, listen to students, educators, and CAMs involved in the work, and discuss what was working and what needed attention. We want to note that the College Advancement Mentors have proven to be a linchpin to this initiative. CAMs meet with students regularly – at least every other week, and sometimes daily – and provide individualized support, beginning the spring semester of a student’s senior year in high school and lasting through the first two years of college. CAMs help students: Navigate an unfamiliar and complicated postsecondary system Advocate for appropriate course enrollment and academic support Balance in-school and out-of school financial needs, ranging from tuition to food or housing insecurity Secure, as necessary, social and emotional support and mental health referrals Model and promote self-efficacy and personal empowerment CAMs accomplish this by meeting with students individually, teaching study skills classes, connecting students to academic and personal services and near peers, and formally and informally lobbying institutions of higher education to train educators to better meet the needs of first generation students. Less than ten months after we started this initiative, COVID-19 struck. Consequently, it is difficult to assess the full impact of the work. However, early data indicate that the strategies are making a significant and measurable difference. In the fall of 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a higher percentage of students who had the support of a CAM returned for their second year of classes than the class before them that did not have the support of a CAM. Specifically, 48% of the Fall 2019 cohort returned to Chattanooga State Community College in the Fall 2020, compared to a 42% retention rate of the class of 2018, which did not have the support of a CAM. We saw a similar pattern for students who attended University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Sixty-six percent of the Fall 2019 cohort returned to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the Fall of 2020, compared to a retention rate of 63% for the fall 2018 cohort, which did not have the support of a CAM. Across the United States and across Tennessee, persistence rates declined significantly, especially amongst Black, Hispanic, and low-income students. In our community, these rates increased! We have secured support for our project through the calendar year of 2022 and have partial funding for the next three years. We turn to the City of Chattanooga and its ARP funds to extend the project. Our goal is to secure a mix of public and private funds to extend our work through June of 2025, at which time we believe the institutions of higher education will have used what they have learned from the project to revise their student support services to better help students and that the negative impact of COVID-19 will have been dramatically reduced. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | One goal of the American Rescue Plan is to “address the negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency.” By providing hundreds of students with the support they need to overcome the barriers created and made worse by COVID-19, we believe our project clearly meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan. Across our nation and across the state of Tennessee, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reduced college matriculation, retention and graduation rates. A recent National Student Clearinghouse report found that college enrollment in the United States decreased by almost 7% between 2019 and 2021. According to a fall 2021 report of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), Tennessee saw a larger drop of 9%. Even more disturbing, Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) recently reported that between 2019 and 2021, Tennessee experienced a 17% drop in the number of first-time, full-time students enrolling in one of TBR’s two year institutions. Both TBR and THEC reported that the percentage of students who successfully completed their first year of post-secondary education, be it a four-year university or a two-year college, also dropped dramatically between 2019 and 2021. Both organizations also reported that matriculation and retention rates of low-income students and Black and Hispanic students dropped even more. COVID-19 negatively impacted thousands of Tennessee’s students, but it hit economically disadvantaged students and students of color even harder. In the spring of 2021,THEC conducted a survey of Tennessee college students and found that over 60% of students indicated that the pandemic had a negative impact on their personal finances. Many students reported working more hours to supplement their income and their family’s income. THEC also reported that 25% of Tennessee college students disclosed that their housing was at risk. Students also revealed that they now had more concerns about graduating on time, their personal safety, and their academic performance (because of increased financial pressure and the need to adjust to hybrid learning). Students also reported concerns about their physical and mental health. Simply put, the pandemic made postsecondary success even more difficult, especially for students with pre-existing financial burdens and academic challenges. While we are proud of the impact our initial work had in reducing the impact of COVID-19, it is clear that traditionally underserved students need continued support if we hope to increase the number of young Chattanoogans who have the knowledge, skills, and credentials that optimize their opportunity to secure a good job that provides a living wage. Consequently, we are respectfully submitting this application with the hopes that the City of Chattanooga will permit us to file a full proposal asking for funds to help us continue our work. |
| Where would your project take place? | “The Gateway Scholars Project” will take place in public high schools that educate a significant number of Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students who are residents of the City of Chattanooga, including Howard High School, Brainerd High School, Hixson High School, Central High School, and Tyner High School. It will also take place on the campuses of Chattanooga State Community College, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Lane College, and Lee University. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 3100000.00 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | For July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025, we have the following commitments: Smart City Venture Fund: $250,000 Chattanooga State Community College: $200,000 TN SCORE: $200,000 University of TN at Chattanooga: $130,000 Benwood Foundation: $100,000 We expect that some of these investments will be recurring. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | To carry out “The Gateway Scholars Project” from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025 (three full years) we project a budget of $3.1M Because we have secured some matching funds, we are requesting $1.0M from the City of Chattanooga's American Rescue Plan funds. This is 30% of the total three year budget. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | July 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | We believe our project will be completed by June 30, 2025. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Our ultimate goal is to dramatically increase the number of Chattanooga public high school graduates who earn a college degree or a professional certificate that has significant value in the local labor market. Consequently, we will use student-level data that regularly measures the progress of students. Thus, the milestones we will use to measure success are College matriculation Successful completion of first semester Persistence (re-enrollment) into second semester Persistence (re-enrollment) to second year Persistence to third year Degree or certificate completion Milestone: Successful College Enrollment Deliverable: Increase by 15% the number of Chattanooga students who successfully enroll in postsecondary education Deadline: Fall 2022 and subsequent Fall semesters Milestone: Fall-to-Spring Persistence Deliverable: Increase semester to semester persistence by 10% Deadline: Spring 2023 and subsequent Spring semesters Milestone: Fall-to-Fall Retention Deliverable: Increase fall to fall retention by 10% Deadline: Fall 2023 and subsequent Fall semesters |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | As noted earlier, the partners in the project have created and institutionalized an extensive data sharing agreement that provides an extraordinary range of data, including, for example, a student’s application status, enrollment status, class attendance, mid-term grades, and semester grades. Thanks to the data sharing agreement and the commitment of the highest officer of each institution to rigorously yet appropriately use data, the partners will track the impact of the project regularly. The partners are committed to sharing this information among themselves as well as with funding partners. Metrics like class attendance and mid-term grades will be reviewed in real time while global measures, such as semester and annual retention rates will be reviewed each semester. Additionally, partners will collaborate regularly to review the implementation of the chosen strategies, identify shifts and pivot points as needed, and regularly assess performance. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | Our project will benefit hundreds of public school students and their present and future families. Very specifically, our project will help hundreds of Black, Hispanic, and low-income young people extend their education and earn a postsecondary credential– a college degree or a professional certificate– that will empower them to secure a job that allows them to buy a home, support a family, and live a fulfilling and comfortable life. This will undoubtedly benefit the community. Our project will also benefit our community by helping six to eight institutions of higher education to learn from each other and from national experts how to increase graduation rates of BIPOC and low-income students. The benefit to the students and to the institutions of higher education will continue long after the end of our project. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Foundational to securing community buy-in is establishing trust. PEF has been engaged in work to increase college-going and college success for over two decades through our collaborative efforts with Hamilton County Schools and our local institutions of higher education. More broadly, PEF has been a staple in the community for over 30 years committed to our mission to transform public education so that every student is prepared for success. With programs such as STEP UP Chattanooga, Camp College, and Passport Scholars, we have worked directly with several thousand students and their families. Consequently, we have garnered the trust of those we serve in the community and our community partners. With “The Gateway Scholars Project,” PEF staff will work directly with hundreds more City of Chattanooga students and families to extend community support and buy-in. |
| Name | Dr. Steven Angle, Chancellor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Contact Information | steven-angle@utc.edu 423-425-4141 |
| Name | Dr. Rebecca Ashford, President, Chattanooga State Community College |
| Contact Information | Rebecca.Ashford@ChattanoogaState.EDU 423-697-4455 |
| Name | Dr. Yancy Freeman, Vice-Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Contact Information | yancy-freeman@utc.edu 423-425-4303 |
| Name | Ms. Christy Gillenwater, President and CEO, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce |
| Contact Information | cgillenwater@chattanoogachamber.com 423-763-4350 |
| Name | Ms. Sarah Morgan, President, Benwood Foundation |
| Contact Information | smorgan@benwood.org 423-267-4311 |
| Name | Dr. Justin Robertson, Superintendent, Hamilton County Schools |
| Contact Information | robertson_justin@hcde.org 423-498-7080 | Extension 20065 |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | |