Resolution 160699

..Title Honoring and celebrating College Possible Philadelphia and its first graduating class of high school students on their many achievements. ..Body WHEREAS, College Possible is a national nonprofit and the first organization to apply the AmeriCorps model to college success, making college admission and success possible for low-income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support; and WHEREAS, Founded in Minnesota in 2000, College Possible now serves 19,000 Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin students during the 2014-15 school year in public, private and charter schools, as well as more than 300 college campuses, with plans to reach over 20,000 students annually in 10 locations across the country by 2020; and WHEREAS, College Possible consists of twice weekly after-school coaching sessions that delve into SAT test preparation, college application support, and financial assistance consulting, and it is able to provide these intensive services at 1/7th the cost of similar programs; and WHEREAS, The key findings of a three-year randomized controlled trial of the College Possible coaching model are a significant increase in the college applications submitted by students served and a significant increase in the number of students enrolled into four year colleges; and WHEREAS, College Possible Philadelphia has served 132 seniors and 176 juniors in Greater Philadelphia, including at George Washington, Murrell Dobbins CTE, Parkway Center City, Penn Wood, and West Philadelphia High Schools, in addition to 435 college students and 1,238 college prep students; and WHEREAS, This month, College Possible Philadelphia's first class of seniors - 132 students - graduated from high school, 99% of whom have already been accepted to college; and WHEREAS, College Possible Philadelphia has already laid the groundwork to build on its successes by helping its current class of juniors increase their SAT score by 11%; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council does honor and celebrate College Possible Philadelphia and its first graduating class of high school students on their many achievements. FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to representatives of College Possible Philadelphia, evidencing the sincere admiration and respect of this legislative body. ..End