MORRIS COUNTY — Impact 100 Garden State has awarded County College of Morris (CCM) an $110,000 grant to launch the Dover College Promise (DCP), which will prepare students for college, along with providing them with scholarships to cover tuition at CCM.
Working with The Educational Center in Dover, DCP will provide low-income middle and high school students in the community with college readiness training and support, along with guaranteed scholarships to attend CCM provided they graduate from high school in good standing. Scholarship funding will be provided by the CCM Foundation.
DCP builds upon CCM’s mission to provide exceptional programs and services to the larger community. It also stems from the college’s Dover Initiative that CCM launched earlier last year to learn how it can better serve that community.
“Through the Dover College Promise, we can help uplift a community for generations by providing students with support and access to a quality higher education so they can pursue rewarding careers,” said Dr. Anthony J. Iacono, CCM president.
“Now, we can officially begin a path of college readiness – which is wrapped with support systems for not only the student, but also their families – to prepare students in the Dover community to attend CCM,” said Dr. Pam Marcenaro, dean of Learning Support and Opportunity Services at CCM, who will be serving as project director.
DCP will provide students with tutoring, college preparation classes, mentoring and community based service learning programs. Once enrolled at CCM, they will continue to receive support services. They also will be able to apply to take part in the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program, which provides comprehensive resources to foster academic success.
“Dover Promise offers the students of our community a unique opportunity to progress their skills, build increased credentials and gain preparation that will position them for competitive careers that will benefit both their own lives and the greater community to which they will contribute,” said Dr. James McLaughlin, Dover schools superintendent. “We are immensely grateful to County College of Morris for their interest and investment in our students.”
CCM will work with The Educational Center to identify students most likely to benefit from the DCP program and to offer its support services at that location. The center has been involved with assisting students and families in Dover for over 20 years.
“We’re so excited that we can now do more for the Dover community,” said Ed Lopez, founder of The Educational Center and an EOF counselor at CCM, who will serve as DCP project coordinator. “The best impact you can have in a community is through education. We’ll now have even more Dover students earning college degrees and lifting up their families. That’s transformational for the community.”
In the first year, slated to begin fall 2020, DCP will enroll thirty 10th grade students. At full capacity, the program is expected to serve 146 students annually.
Impact 100 Garden State is a women-led, all-volunteer, philanthropic organization where each member contributes $1,000 a year to award grants to nonprofits that assist underserved populations in Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Union counties.
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