On June 18, 2013, the Florida State Board of Education awarded Barry University funding for the College Reach-Out Program for 2013-2014 for a total of $49,815. The program’s goal is to motivate and prepare students to pursue and successfully complete a college education. The grant will provide college-going and career path activities, counseling sessions, mentoring and leadership opportunities to approximately 150 students in grades 6-12 within Miami-Dade County.
Of the 16 grant applications received, only 12 were funded. Barry University and Miami Dade College were the only postsecondary education institutions in South Florida to receive the grant.
The College Reach-Out Program serves middle and high schools in the Miami-Dade public school system that have high numbers of low-income and underserved students. Eighty-two percent of students qualify for free/reduced price lunch, while 90 percent are black or Hispanic. Two of those schools also have the highest number of foster care students in the state of Florida (50 percent), along with high truancy, suspension and dropout rates in comparison to state averages.
Since 1999, Barry University's College Reach-Out Program (CROP) has engaged low-income, minority, first-generation, and educationally disadvantaged middle and high school students within Miami-Dade County Public Schools.