Press Release

February 22, 2005

National Trio Day Celebration Highlights Need for Upward Bound and Talent Search Programs

NORTHFIELD, Mass.— A National Trio Day celebration will take place at the Malcolm X Cultural Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on Friday, February 25, from 6:00   to 7:30 pm. The Center is located in the Berkshire Dining Hall on University Drive in the Southwest Residence Area.

             National Trio Day is being celebrated across the nation to honor the successes of TRIO programs and to raise awareness about the proposed elimination of these programs. The event is being coordinated by the Holyoke Community College Upward Bound Program and will include the Northfield Mount Hermon Upward Bound Program and the University of Massachusetts Educational Talent Search Program. These programs serve low-income and first-generation youth in Holyoke, Springfield, Chicopee, Greenfield and Turners Falls. Public officials, leaders from the institutions, alumni and students will speak about the continued need for and success of these programs. Members of the communities are encouraged to participate and learn more about these critical programs.

TRIO programs are educational opportunity programs for low-income and disabled Americans. In order to provide educational opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, ethnic background or economic circumstance, Congress established a series of programs to help low-income Americans enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life. These programs are funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are referred to as the TRIO Programs (initially just three programs). While student financial aid programs help students overcome financial barriers to higher education, TRIO programs help students overcome academic, class, social and cultural barriers to higher education. As mandated by Congress, two-thirds of the students served must come from families with incomes under $24,000, where neither parent graduated from college. Over 2,700 TRIO programs currently serve nearly 873,000 low-income Americans. Sixteen thousand students with disabilities and more than 25,000 U.S. veterans are currently enrolled in the TRIO programs as well. Although 11 million Americans are eligible for TRIO programs, federal funding permits fewer than 7 percent of eligible youth and adults to be served. Two of these programs, Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search are slated to be completely eliminated in the FY 2006 budget.

Northfield Mount Hermon School has hosted the Upward Bound Program on its campus since 1968. “NMH Upward Bound was one of the first programs to start up in during 1960’s and it is one of only two hosted by secondary schools across the country. The program exemplifies our founder Dwight L. Moody’s commitment to opportunity in education. The services ensure that some of the most disadvantaged students in our local communities will be prepared for and gain admission to college, regardless of their circumstances. This program is at the heart of our school’s mission. We hope there will be a way to continue providing these critical services to our local communities” said Head of School Tom Sturtevant.

NMH’s program has an annual budget of $332,437 from the Department of Education and additional grants from the Edwin S. Webster Foundation, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and the Xeric Foundation. According to the program director, Gisele Litalien, the money provides funding for 66 students from Greenfield, Turners Falls, Springfield and Holyoke public high schools. “The loss of funding from the Department of Education would be devastating for our students and their families, and a significant loss of an opportunity for hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged American high school students.” Students who meet the eligibility criteria attend classes on the NMH campus each summer. They also receive academic and financial aid counseling, tutoring, and after school classes during the school year that help them succeed in high school and prepare for college. The program recently accepted 30 ninth graders who have begun to receive services in their schools and who will join returning students for the Summer Academy beginning June 18^th. Program cuts would take effect at the end of the next school year.

Upward Bound has survived similar challenges on several occasions, including the early 1980s under the Reagan Administration and after Republicans won control of Congress in 1994. “There was a huge outpouring of support for the program from both Democrats and Republicans during that time.” Litalien said. “I hope that Congress will again recognize the importance of continuing these programs. The single biggest indicator of whether someone is going to go to college and be successful is whether their parents did. Getting low-income students to college is one of the most effective ways of overcoming poverty in our communities. Once someone has a college education it is likely that most of his or her children and grandchildren will go to college after that. The program has very far-reaching effects.”

Litalien said that less than one third of students whose family incomes fall in the bottom quarter will go to college. “With a widening gap between the rich and poor in this country, this is not the time to eliminate programs that move people out of poverty. Over the past five years, 95% of NMH Upward Bound graduates have gone on to college, most of them to four-year colleges. Over 70% of the students finish college and many go on to graduate programs. Each year students increase their SAT scores, cumulative grade point averages, pass MCAS and show significant increase in test scores. “This is a program that works.” says Litalien. “We are making sure these students are not left behind. It’s frustrating to see the President try to dismantle a program that works in order to fund the No Child Left Behind initiative when we are currently providing the services that help our communities meet those goals."

For more information about the event call Sonia Pope, Holyoke Community College Upward Bound Director at (413) 552-2157

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