Morehouse and Spelman Colleges last week announced partnerships with the KIPP Foundation to help students from low-income backgrounds realize the dream of college graduation. The partnerships represent the first such agreements between a charter school organization and an HBCU.
The first-of-its-kind partnerships were developed out of a desire to get more students from low-income backgrounds “to and through college,” says KIPP spokesperson Steve Mancini. Each college will guarantee spots to 15 KIPP graduating students for the 2013-2014 school year, and 20 students each year thereafter. Additionally, the KIPP Metro Atlanta schools will serve as expanded work-study sites for students at Spelman and Morehouse.
“KIPP schools across the nation have established a strong track record of educating high potential, underserved students who are ready for the academically challenging collegiate environment Spelman provides,” says Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College. “We are proud to partner with KIPP in this new effort, knowing that we have a supportive learning environment in which KIPP graduates can thrive.”
Morehouse President Dr. Robert M. Franklin says both KIPP and Morehouse have “a shared desire to provide educational opportunities for boys of color…our desire is that at least this segment of the KIPP population will have the benefit of the Morehouse experience and will be able to contribute to our community.”
He continues, “Essentially, we saw this KIPP opportunity as consistent with Morehouse’s mission of providing academic and leadership opportunities. … We feel we have an obligation to celebrate the preparation and the extra effort that those middle and high schools are investing in low-income students.”
“We want to give the same chances to our kids as those from high income backgrounds,” Mancini says.
Though KIPP alumni go on to graduate college at rates far greater than the national average for students from low-income backgrounds (36 percent of KIPP students graduate college by the end of their twenties, compared with 30 percent total nationally, and an average of 8 percent of low-income students across the nation), Mancini says there is still work to be done to get KIPP alumni on par with their more affluent counterparts, who see three out of every four students finish college by the end of their twenties.
