Omaha's Wealthy Combine Resources To Send Kids To College
Susie Buffett, Others Combine Money To Offer Scholarships
KETV News
May 25, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. -- A private effort to extend education opportunities to disadvantaged children was launched in Omaha on Tuesday morning.
Building Brighter Futures said it is ready to provide college scholarships to every low-income high school graduate in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Seven out of 10 Omaha Public Schools students graduate. The group estimates that there are of about 5,000 low-income students in each grade in the metro, about 800 go to college.
Board members, including Susie Buffett, Richard Holland, Dianne Lozier and John Cavanaugh are committing their own money and looking for public and other private funding for the effort.
"No one in the country has taken this comprehensive approach to say, 'We have to start at birth,'" said Cavanaugh. "We have to have programs -- not just K through 12 -- but that follow these students."
While the program is still in its early stages, it's expected to help students at schools such as Franklin Elementary, where 91 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunches.
The initiative has three main goals: to reduce the achievement gap between poor and middle-class students, to increase high school graduation rates and to provide a full-tuition scholarship to any graduating low-income student.
The scholarship has a lot of parents talking.
"I think it would be very good, and there's a lot of children that can't afford for college, and a lot of parents that can't afford to send them," said parent Clarissa Burden.
There are six task forces that are being formed by the initiative to plan how each piece of Building Brighter Futures works. Those plans are due by January.
Building Brighter Futures also plans to focus on mentoring, tutoring, a reduction in truancy and creating new after-school opportunities.
Area school superintendents, the University of Nebraska and other area colleges and universities are also part of the effort.
Copyright 2007 by KETV.com.
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Omaha's Wealthy Combine Resources To Send Kids To College
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