The Medgar Evers College Educational Talent Search Program recently received a five-year $1.6 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Under the auspices of the School of Professional and Community Development, the program identifies low-income and disadvantaged students and provides them with the academic, career, and financial counseling needed to graduate from high school and continue on to college.
“Medgar Evers College Educational Talent Search Program levels the playing field for economically disadvantaged students who have the potential to succeed in higher education,” said Program Director Abraham Nyameh. “For nearly 25 years we have encouraged program participants to fulfill their academic potential through completion of their secondary and postsecondary level education.”
Using a cohort of teachers within the students existing schools, the program annually serves approx. 750 students in grades six through twelve hailing from Central Brooklyn junior high schools and high schools like Clara Barton, the Prospect Heights campus schools, the Wingate campus schools, Medgar Evers College Preparatory, and Erasmus. There are also specially designed services for students with limited English proficiency, disabilities, the homeless, those in – or aging out of – the foster care system, individuals from demographic groups traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education, and individuals – up to age 27 – who have not completed education programs at the secondary or postsecondary level to enter/reenter and complete their education.
Educational Talent Search’s year – round services include an academic curriculum in the fall and spring augmented by sports during the summer. Program participants receive information on financial aid, assistance with the college application process and entrance exams, tutoring, career counseling and aptitude assessments, counseling, mentoring, workshops, college prep; education or counseling services designed to improve the financial and economic literacy of students; guidance on and assistance in secondary school reentry, alternative education programs for secondary school dropouts, entry into general educational development programs or postsecondary education.
The program broadens its students’ horizons with experiential trips to locales like the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and college campus tours. Program participants have gone onto colleges and universities like Medgar Evers College, Binghamton University, Syracuse University, Rutgers University, Virginia State, Morehouse and Spelman.
About Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Medgar Evers College was founded in 1970 through the efforts from educators and community leaders in central Brooklyn. The College is named after Medgar Wiley Evers, a Mississippi-born black civil rights activist who was assassinated on June 12, 1963. The College is divided into four schools: The School of Business; The School of Professional and Community Development; The School of Liberal Arts and Education; and The School of Science, Health, and Technology. Through these Schools, the College offers 29 associate and baccalaureate degree programs, as well as certificate programs in fields such as English, Nursing, and Accounting. Medgar Evers College also operates several co-curricular and external programs and associated centers such as the Male Development and Empowerment Center, the Center for Women’s Development, the Center for Black Literature, and The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy.
