The group that hands out college scholarships to Guilford County high school students is now under local control. In July, "Say Yes to Education Guilford" reached an agreement with its national parent to become locally managed. It's two years earlier than originally planned.
A new nonprofit has been established to manage some "wraparound" services for the local chapter. Guilford PreK-12 Inc. will focus on creating several support programs for students, which could include tutoring and mobile health clinics.
Chair Mindy Oakley says this will allow them to tailor their approach in some schools.
“We are meeting with schools, we are talking about needs, we are thinking about the community resources we can bring to bear, and trying to build a system,” says Oakley. “I don't think that our intention is a quick fix. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and so we are really trying to be intentional about launching services that we can sustain and doing this for the long term.”
Oakley says the support services are expected to start in January in a limited number of schools and will scale out over time. They will be funded by seed money from the national Say Yes organization and local fundraising efforts.
“I really believe that we made promises to this community that we have to uphold and right now the commitment level is very high, and so I'm enthusiastic. I'm excited for us to get the planning done this fall,” she says.
Oakley says a seperate board will help oversee the support services. So far, seven community leaders are part of the group, including Guilford County Schools Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras.
Say Yes Guilford officials say they expect to have all of the board members seated by the end of the month.
The college scholarship fund will remain intact and no changes will take place on that end.
The organization says it has raised around $42 million in pledges, commitments and gifts. For the class of 2018, Say Yes says it awarded $1.3 million in scholarship money to students.
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