$250,000 Grant Will Encourage College-Going Culture at GRPS

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation announced yesterday that it will be awarding a $250,000 grant to Harrison Park School. The grant is to be used to encourage students to go to college.

The grant is part of a partnership between the Grand Rapids Community Foundation  and the Grand Rapids Public Schools aimed to create a college-going culture at the school. The money is to be used to help pay for summer and after school programs as well as providing scholarships to students who take certain classes in high school.

"You talk to kids about working hard and talking about the importance of the future, but for me, this allows us to be very concrete and tell the kids starting with our fourth grade students next year that you worked hard, you graduated from high school, and you are going to college," said Harrison Park principal, Mike Nasser to WZZM 13 News.

The grant will also create three new full time jobs at Harrison Park: A college pathway coordinator, a math coach, and a literacy coach.

There are future plans to expand the program to Westwood Middle School and Union High School.

[WZZM]