Cal State East Bay Foundation to Expand Hayward Promise Neighborhood Program with $276,000 from AT&T

HAYWARD, Calif., Sept. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The California State University, East Bay Foundation will receive $276,548.61 from AT&T to expand the Hayward Promise Neighborhood initiative.  The program, which serves over 10,000 residents and over 3,000 students in the Jackson Triangle neighborhood, was one of the first five communities in the country selected to pilot the U.S. Department of Education's Promise Neighborhood Initiative. The initiative is managed by a collaborative of more than nine local organizations, led by Cal State East Bay. The initiative will use the Aspire grant funds to provide dedicated Dropout Prevention Specialists and double the number of Cal State East Bay Service Learning students who provide mentoring and tutoring at Tennyson and Hayward High Schools. 

It takes caring professionals and a relentless focus on results to put students at risk of dropping out of high school on the path to graduation. Because of its early success supporting and motivating traditionally underserved students to stay in school and prepare for their next steps in life, Cal State East Bay and Hayward Promise Neighborhood have been named as one of just 30 recipients nationwide that will share in nearly $12.5 million from AT&T. 

These contributions are a part of AT&T Aspire, the company's signature education initiative focused on school success and career readiness.  With an unwavering commitment to data-driven education outcomes, AT&T Aspire has impacted more than 1 million students since its launch in 2008.

"AT&T is very pleased to support CSU East Bay and the Hayward Promise Neighborhood program through our Aspire commitment," said Ken McNeely, President of AT&T California. "Solving the drop-out crisis and preparing kids for college and career success takes more than just in-school support. Programs like Hayward Neighborhood Promise are critical because they empower the entire community, as well as individual students – and AT&T is proud to be a partner in this effort."

Through a competitive request for proposal process, 30 schools, school districts and non-profits, including Hayward Promise Neighborhood, were selected from more than 1,100 nationwide.  Programs were evaluated based on their effectiveness in helping students graduate ready for a career or college. Selected programs use evidence-based approaches to serve students and are able to demonstrate quantitative results.

A component of AT&T's collaboration with Hayward Promise Neighborhood supports student mentoring. Research has shown that a caring adult in a young person's life impacts their success. According to a recent report, students with mentors are more likely to aspire to enroll in and graduate from college than those without mentors (76 percent vs. 56 percent).

"The Hayward Promise Neighborhood program provides wrap-around services for children through high-quality and coordinated health, social, community, and educational supports," said Dr. Leroy M. Morishita, president of Cal State East Bay. "This is a collaborative effort of more than nine organizations in this community—but without the traditional agency 'silos.'  We are able to affect the lives of youth and their families from every angle, and that is really what makes this program so different and so promising."

AT&T Aspire funding recipients include non-profits, schools, and school districts around the country that will expand programs to serve additional students, to add components to strengthen the program, or to replicate in new locations.  Many of the awardees deliver integrated student supports, focus on college or career preparation, and/or provide mentoring or peer-to-peer supports to help students succeed in academics and beyond.

"I'm proud of how far this program has come, and where it's going," said Dean Carolyn Nelson, Principal Investigator for the Hayward Promise Neighborhood program and Dean for the College of Education and Allied Studies at CSU East Bay. "The Hayward Promise Neighborhood program brings resources from all of our collaborative partners into one place so it's easier for kids and parents to access. We get the information out into the neighborhood, and we cut out the bureaucracy."

About Philanthropy at AT&T

AT&T Inc. is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its community initiatives, AT&T has a long history of investing in projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; or address community needs. In 2013, more than $130 million was contributed or directed through corporate-, employee-, social investment- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T Aspire is AT&T's signature education initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue including funding, technology, employee volunteerism, and mentoring.

About Hayward Promise Neighborhood

Inspired by the success of the Harlem Children's Zone, President Obama started the federal Promise Neighborhoods in 2010 as a priority initiative for education reform and neighborhood renewal. Hayward became one of the first five cities in the nation to receive the five-year, $25 million Promise Neighborhood grant from the US Department of Education. Led by California State University, East Bay, Hayward Promise Neighborhood (HPN) is a partnership of local educators, government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits collaborating to fully support residents within the Jackson Triangle community and students that attend six schools within the Hayward Unified School District, to provide comprehensive, high-quality educational and social support to ensure the long-term health, safety and economic well-being of the entire community.

About Cal State East Bay

California State University, East Bay is the San Francisco East Bay Area's high-access public university of choice. CSUEB serves the region with campuses in Hayward and Concord, a professional development center in Oakland, and an innovative online campus. With an enrollment of more than 14,000, the University offers a nationally recognized freshman year experience, award-winning curriculum, personalized instruction, and expert faculty. Students choose from among more than 100 professionally focused fields of study for which the University confers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as an Ed.D. in education. Named a "Best in the West" college, as well as a Best Business School, by the influential Princeton Review, Cal State East Bay is among the region's foremost producers of teachers, business professionals and entrepreneurs, public administrators, health professionals, literary and performing artists, and science and math graduates.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.