If you haven’t already, please check out
the story on the University of Rhode Island’s web site about the Star Academy.
Here’s the link: http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=6338. The First Star Academy at URI was founded to
create opportunities for foster kids to prepare for college. It is an excellent example of the kind of
partnerships that the University of Rhode Island is committed to build. In this instance the partners include First
Star, a national non-profit organization (www.firststar.org),
Hasbro, Adoption Rhode Island, and the state Department of Children, Youth, and
Families.
Some might ask: Why is URI doing this?
Doesn’t this represent an expansion of the University’s mission at a time when
budgets are tight? Why should this be a priority? All fair questions. The question of why is relatively
straightforward to answer: the need is substantial. Only a few percent of kids
who reach 18 in foster care go to college. Many end up homeless shortly after
leaving the foster care system. Opportunities
are few and hope is scarce. One can
decry the choices and decisions of the parents, or the inefficiencies and
shortcomings of programs intended to help, but the bottom line is that a large
majority of kids who “graduate” from foster care at 18 face a blighted future
with very few options for building a fulfilling, productive life. We can help.
But why, then, should the University of
Rhode Island take on this task? Isn’t
there enough to do, especially given the persistent fiscal constraints facing
the university? Where is such an
endeavor to be found in the mission statement or the Academic Strategic
Plan? The answer to these questions, I
believe, is to be found in the fundamental nature of the University of Rhode
Island’s identity as a public, land-grant institution. Universities like URI were created to provide
a path for higher education for the common people, the “industrial classes” as
referred to in the Morrill Act of 1862 – still one of the most visionary and
influential acts of Congress ever passed.
The University of Rhode Island’s mission is to prepare people for
success in the “several pursuits and professions of life.” And that is precisely the goal of the First
Star Academy at URI. The Academy strives
to prepare foster kids for college and for success – providing opportunity,
choices, and hope. And that is the core
mission of the University of Rhode Island.
We’ve had a lot of success in this kind of
work. The Talent Development program (http://www.uri.edu/talent_development/)
at the University of Rhode Island has assisted more than 1500 students to
graduate who, owing to their own disadvantaged backgrounds, could not have
expected to be able to attend URI. Their
success stories are an inspiration to all. In fact, a TD alumnus, Matt
Buchanan, is the director of the First Star Academy at URI.
In the end, it makes excellent social and
fiscal sense for the University of Rhode Island to be engaged with our partners
in the First Star Academy, in Talent Development, and in many other ways to
provide opportunity and a path to success for students who would not otherwise
have had much of a chance. Here in Rhode
Island, and across the nation, pursuing strategies that will help in
revitalizing the economy, creating jobs, and growing incomes may well be the
surest path to restoring support for public higher education. Further, it seems to me that the current
social and political context in America argues for a better-informed and more
engaged citizenry. That is also
certainly a part of the historic land-grant mission. 2012 marks the 150th
anniversary of the Morrill Act, and I can think of no better way to celebrate
it than by renewing our efforts, and creating new ways, to provide education,
opportunity, and hope to all Americans.
