2007 Midwest Regional GEARUPCincinnati GEARUP Program Overview

Welcome to the 2007 Midwest Regional GEARUP Conference, Accountability & Sustainability: Cultivating Excellence, Creating Futures.

As you know, GEARUP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education through a competitive grant process. These six-year grants support local initiatives to increase the number of economically disadvantaged children who have access to and are prepared for post-secondary education.

The inaugural Midwest Regional GEARUP Conference provides both state and partnership GEARUP grantees with the opportunity to network, build supportive relationships, and learn from one another. While some of us received our first GEARUP award in 1999, others are just getting started on their initial year of GEARUP funding. And while some of us serve thousands of students, others work with much smaller populations. Because we are different in so many ways, our grant proposals are unique; they were written to address specific needs in our respective communities. As such, we support and supplement a wide variety of efforts in diverse districts across 13 states.

Yet, despite our many differences, we have so much more in common. We care about students and families, and we care that students have access to and are prepared for higher education. We know that what we are doing is making a difference.

The struggles we face as GEARUP grantees are not unique. This two-day conference is an excellent chance to step away from our busy daily schedules and to take some much-needed time to “sharpen the saw” by bonding with colleagues, reflecting, and ultimately emerging as a renewed, refreshed, and unified group of youth-serving professionals.

Like the schoolhouse doors they walk through, some of the students we serve appear fresh and well cared for; others have been beaten down and bear the scars of years of neglect. Regardless of whether they arrive at school via city streets or country roads, passing crowded bus stops, farmers’ fields, or coal mines, they all share a common need for opportunities to improve their lives through higher education. Our children all deserve the best possible preparation to take full advantage of those opportunities.

During this conference, we will share our collective expertise and enrich one another’s lives so that we are better equipped to empower the youth we serve. Not only our actions, but also our words, create the situations and reality we face each day. This regional conference provides a venue for us to use our words to have a positive impact on the lives of students throughout the Midwest. The ideas we exchange on November 15 and 16 will cultivate excellence within each of us to create a brighter future for our students and their families.

Welcome to Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati, and the 2007 Midwest Regional GEARUP Conference. We hope that you will enjoy and benefit from this experience.

Stephanie A. Cappel, Ed.D.
Executive Director
CECH PASS
University of Cincinnati