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Lillian Wall
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ֱ and partner organizations received a $120,000 Higher Education Innovation Fund grant from the Department of Higher Education (DHE) that will support the work of the 100 Males to College (100MTC) Consortium.
The 100MTC consortium consists of a network of partners headed by ֱ, Bridgewater State University, Framingham State University, Worcester State University, and Springfield’s Public School District.
The grant will support the continuance of the five organizations’ 100MTC regional program endeavors including summer college preparation programs, civic engagement activities, opportunities for students to participate in dual enrollment and Early College programs, and psycho-social support that involve peer group meetings to discuss positive gender identity, masculinity, race, and other social identities for male students within each partner’s respective regions.
Gail E. Gasparich, Salem State’s dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the work of the consortium is designed to increase the number of young men who pursue and successfully complete a college degree and is in strong alignment with the DHE goals of equity and access.
Gasparich said, “Supporting and encouraging young men to pursue a college degree enhances the diversity of the Commonwealth’s workforce, providing diverse voices at the table to better solve the problems of the future.”
Salem State is a leader of the consortium and will manage the consortium budget as well as the ֱ program budget. The grant will also support the five organizations’ shared consortium-wide activities, which include collaborative grant writing, consortium assessment, dissemination and best practices as well as an annual statewide convening.
Since 2014, 100MTC has been leveraging community and campus resources in a collective impact model so that public higher education institutions, school districts, community and business partners, and political leadership work together to provide additional targeted supports for these students. The project theory of action is anchored in strengthening young people through a positive youth development model that embraces culture, identity and community by engaging some of our Commonwealth’s most promising yet underserved young people in a personally and educationally transformational journey. .