OCAN Invests in Pickaway HELPS to Prepare Local Kids for College

The Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) recently awarded $20,000 to Pickaway HELPS (Higher Education Learning Partners for Students) as part of the competitive Invest in Success initiative. This grant is designed for community-based OCAN members to implement new programs, enhance existing initiatives or build capacity to strengthen their overall operations.  ”The Invest in Success Grant award has helped to provide funding for Pickaway HELPS to leverage at least $35,000 in additional funding from the community and will support our ongoing efforts to promote higher education opportunities and make a difference in the lives of all students and families in Pickaway County,” said Ula Jean Metzler, Pickaway County Commissioner and Executive Director of Pickaway HELPS.

Pickaway HELPS, a collaborative higher education initiative established in 2006, was awarded in 2007 a Governor’s College Access Initiative grant. As a traditional OCAN member program, Pickaway HELPS promotes higher education opportunities among students and families of Pickaway County, with an emphasis on targeting low income students and families and first generation college students. Pickaway Countians served include teens wondering what to do after high school, parents and students with questions about the college process, adults changing careers or going back to school, and any resident of Pickaway County who would like “HELP” with career and education choices.

The Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) was founded in 1999, by KnowledgeWorks Foundation, in collaboration with the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Business Roundtable.  OCAN works to establish college access programs across the state and is the first statewide coordinating body for college access programs in the nation. The goal of the organization is to assist more Ohio students to pursue postsecondary education through the work of local college access program, which provide financial aid advising, last dollar grants, career guidance, and other services.

Currently, 36 college access programs serve nearly 300 of Ohio’s 612 school districts, and 17 private/parochial schools in 46 counties touching over 175,000 students annually.

Need for funding is supported by research from the University of Cincinnati that indicates 4.5 percent more students are graduating from high schools with OCAN programs than similar schools without OCAN college access initiatives. Additionally, 3.8 percent more students with these programs are going on to college. Like Pickaway HELPS, many of the students served by these programs are from low-income families