PHILADELPHIA PA, July 2, 2008 – Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) announced today that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded a six-year, $18 million matching grant to launch low-income students in Philadelphia and two other Pennsylvania cities on the college readiness track under Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), the landmark national program Fattah authored 10 years ago.

“GEAR UP has been shown to be the most successful of any federal program for improving the life chances of students from our poorest households by readying them, even as young teens, for possible success in higher education,” Congressman Fattah said. “This is a highly competitive national program, only one out of every 12 applications was approved, and I’m pleased that Philadelphians will continue to benefit.”

The program will serve about 1,700 students who enter the seventh grade in September 2008 in K-8 and middle schools that feed into Fels, Furness, Germantown and Overbrook High Schools. Philadelphia students will benefit from $4.1 million over six years.

The grant – one of 24 awarded nationally out of 283 applications ¬– was given to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which will also channel GEAR UP resources to low-income communities in Allentown (1,400 students) and Harrisburg (600 students). Grants were awarded to six other states and 17 community partnerships, a total of nearly $41.6 million in new grants that will amount to about $250 million under GEAR UP’s six-year grant cycle.

GEAR UP funding has been an uphill battle in recent years. Fattah credited Congressional allies – especially Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- for team success. “Senator Specter is to be commended for joining me to lead the fight to keep GEAR UP alive,” Fattah said. “Pennsylvanians owe our senior Senator a debt of gratitude as they hear today’s good news.”

Congressman Fattah created GEAR UP a decade ago and won enactment of the program as part of education legislation signed by President Clinton in 1998. Since then, over $2 billion has been appropriated and more than 2 million young people from underserved backgrounds have been prepared and counseled toward achieving their college dreams.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 85 percent of GEAR UP students have graduated high school and 55 percent continue on to higher education. “There is no more successful program in school reform in the history of school reform in our country,” Fattah said.

At least one Presidential candidate has praised GEAR UP and promised to expand its funding. Fattah said he is hopeful that the 44th President, whoever that may be, will become a strong advocate for the program.

The new grant announced today points to the continuity of GEAR UP and college access programs in Philadelphia. On June 3, Congressman Fattah and Mayor Michael Nutter addressed about 600 June graduates from Bartram, King, Rhodes, and Strawberry Mansion high schools who entered GEAR UP in 2002. Most of them are college-bound.

Then, on June 27, Fattah and Nutter hosted another rally for the 3,100-plus June graduates from city public, charter, parochial and private high schools who will enroll in college in the fall, thanks in part to the College Opportunity Resources for Education Philly (CORE Philly) Scholarship Program, which Fattah also created. CORE Philly is available as a “last dollar” first-year scholarship at 21 Pennsylvania colleges and universities for all recent Philadelphia graduates, regardless of income. 

Some students from low-income households are benefitting from both programs, to prepare and then be able to afford higher education, and Fattah pointed to the linkage.

“The great thing about GEAR UP,” Fattah said, “is that it’s not just about this program.  GEAR UP has inspired communities across the country to look beyond high school graduation and to set their sights much higher. We know that with the appropriate resources, support, preparation and expectations, our students can achieve remarkable things.”

Students who participate in GEAR UP receive a variety of services throughout their middle school and high school years. Initially, the students take part in an individual assessment of their academic, financial, motivational and personal needs, which leads to the development of their own Educational Action Plan. The students also are offered programs that help them explore potential careers. Their parents are encouraged to participate in programs that will help them help their children get ready for college.

The K-8 and middle schools whose seventh graders will enter GEAR UP next fall are: Leidy, Beeber, Duroff, Heston, Roosevelt, Henry, Houston, Carnell, Creighton, Finletter, Franklin, Grover Washington, McCall, Jackson, Kirkbride, Nebbinger, Taggart and Washington.