Young people made up a good portion of the crowd that gathered at the Chavis Community Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. on January 30 for the dedication of the Raleigh College Center. Many were eager to learn how to get into college and how to pay for it. The Raleigh College Center will provide this information through a series of workshops starting this month.
But lots of other people were present, as well — residents from surrounding neighborhoods, educational leaders, representatives of nonprofits, leaders of religious institutions. They stood for all parts of our community, which was significant because the Raleigh College Center is a communitywide effort.
So what, you may wonder, does the Raleigh College Center at Chavis have to do with Southwest Raleigh? As it turns out, a great deal. For the Raleigh College Center is part of a larger program, known as the Raleigh Promise, which aims to greatly increase the number of low-income students in Raleigh who obtain a degree or certificate beyond high school and go on to good jobs. The Raleigh Promise stands for the proposition that more residents of Raleigh need a postsecondary education to succeed in the workplace and in life.
As the home of two major educational institutions – Meredith College and N.C. State University – Southwest Raleigh has a natural appreciation for the value of education. That value extends beyond individuals to reach the entire City of Raleigh. We need productive workers, community leaders and fully engaged citizens for our city to remain strong. Our neighborhoods need small business owners and well-trained teachers, mechanics, electricians and others with the educational credentials to meet the demands of tomorrow.
The speakers at the Chavis event echoed the theme of education as a community benefit. “Yes, we want to help young people. But we know those young people will give back to us,” said Jose Picart, the director of the local partnership that is behind the Raleigh Promise. Dr. Stephen Scott, president of Wake Tech, put it this way as he addressed the young people in the audience: “We’re here because we’re concerned about your future, which is also our future.”
The partnership supporting the Raleigh Promise includes the City of Raleigh, the six colleges and universities in Raleigh, businesses, nonprofits, religious institutions and, of course, young people and their families. The effort has funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are working together to help our young people prepare for education beyond high school, find the program that is right for them, assist them in getting around roadblocks as they enter college, support them as they progress toward a degree or certificate and help them find living-wage jobs when they graduate.
I invite you to learn more about this initiative at www.raleighpromise.org. Just as important, I hope that you will encourage the young people around you and offer your support and guidance as they further their education. After all, as Dr. Scott says, it’s your future, too.
More photo’s at: www.flickr.com/photos/communityservices/