Grant boosts Generation Texas college prep initiative

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
January 30, 2012

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has awarded a grant to the E3 Alliance and the Center for P-16 Initiatives at Texas State University-San Marcos for Success for ALL: Closing the College Participation and Success Gaps in Central Texas.

The grant will allow the Center for P-16 Initiatives to continue the pilot project Generation Texas, which the center implemented throughout San Marcos for the duration of the 2010-2011 academic year.

“We’re excited that Texas State University’s Center for P-16 Initiatives, together with regional partners in the Austin College Access Network, are working collaboratively to take a strong pilot project and make it truly regional,” said Susan Dawson, executive director of the E3 Alliance. “Increasing college participation and success in our region has a direct and positive impact on our economic future.”

Generation Texas (www.GenTX.org) is a statewide grassroots movement designed to create a college-going culture, and to train the next generation of Texans to be both college-minded and career-ready.

“The Center for P-16 Initiatives is determined to train families to access and apply for a college education,” said Michelle Hamilton, director of the Center for P-16 Initiatives. “With the expansion of Generation Texas we are now able to reach more families, and to truly establish Central Texas as a college-going region.”

The Center for P-16 Initiatives and E3 Alliance were awarded approximately $236,000 of the total $1.5 million available through the U.S. Department of Education in order to implement long-term infrastructure aimed at closing the gaps to college participation and success by 2015. E3 Alliance, which is the Central Texas P-16 Council, was one of 10 councils in the state to receive funding. The programming created by the council will be in accordance with the Texas College and Career Readiness Standards, which are designed to achieve secondary and post-secondary academic alignment.

“Our grassroots efforts from last year will be supplemented and magnified in 2012, allowing us to reach and teach more young people with the knowledge of how to participate and succeed in post-secondary education,” said Isaac Torres, the grant’s outreach director for the region.

For more information contact the Center for P-16 Initiatives at (512) 245-8192.