BRADENTON – Established in 1995, Take Stock in Children is a non-profit organization that provides scholarships and mentoring to qualifying low-income students, helping them to escape the cycle of poverty through higher education.
The only requirement of applicants is that they receive free or reduced lunch–which makes up a staggering 55 percent of students in the Manatee County School District. Each year, hundreds of students apply for the program. The top 20 percent are selected for interviews by a volunteer panel, and a final decision is made on 25 students who are selected for participation.
Those selected are promised a Florida Prepaid Plan that will cover their tuition at a state school of their choice. In return, they must pledge to remain drug and crime free, while demonstrating good behavior as students and members of the community. Central to the program is the assignment of a volunteer mentor from our community who meets with the student on their school campus once a week, usually over lunch, in order to help ensure that they receive adequate support in completing the program.
To date, Take Stock Manatee has awarded 468 scholarships to local students, and sports an impressive 96 percent success rate, in terms of recipients who graduate and successfully matriculate into college.
"It is truly amazing what a difference it can make in a child's life when they know they are going to be able to go to college, especially a child where that might not have been something that they otherwise thought possible," said Take Stock Manatee Executive Director Diana Dill. "Their entire outlook on life can change on a dime, and suddenly there is a motivation to succeed that might not have been there otherwise."
Dill explained that 90 percent of the recipients are the first in their family to even attempt to go on to college, and 20 percent are the first to even graduate high school.
"A lot of these children haven't had many real life examples of people climbing out of poverty through education," said Dill. "Some of them have never really considered the possibility that college is a realistic option for them, either because of cost or because they haven't had someone push them in that direction. When you tell them that yes, this is not only a possibility but all you have to do is these things and it's guaranteed, their whole world changes. You're planting the seeds of success."
Dill explains that this is where the mentorships take hold. By coordinating regular interaction with and support from someone who has made it to the place where these students ultimately aspire to be, they are able to visualize a pathway to a very different future than the one that may have been in store. This modeling that most of us experience passively and take for granted, becomes an integral ingredient in leveling the playing field for Take Stock students.
"We have been blessed with an incredible group of mentors in this community who have done an amazing job," said Dill, explaining that mentors come from all walks of life and are asked to commit one hour per week, for one year at a time. "The mentors often get as much out of the experience as the students do, however, and you can see this in their continued commitment. We have a 95 percent mentor retention rate, meaning that 95 percent choose to come back with the student at the end of each year, which is amazing and really speaks to the positive aspects of the mentor experience."
A glance through the student/mentor directory shows an impressive cadre of well known community and civic leaders and local entrepreneurs among the 171 current mentors. Some current mentors are even former Take Stock students who've come back to work with the next generation.
Students are often able to be paired with mentors who work in career fields they themselves are interested in entering. Dill lights up when she shares one success story of a student interested in architectural design. That student was paired with a prominent local architect, graduated college, and returned to work for that person's firm.
"There are so many children who need our help," said Dill, "and most of them just don't know what opportunities are open to them. These role models are helping them fulfill their potential and in doing so, they are often changing the course of the students' lives. Think about the generational effect, the impact that they are going to have on other members of their family and the next generation because of the example that they are able to provide their children. And these are our neighbors, the people that are going to be in this community with us for a long time. Who wouldn't want to see them succeed and become the most productive member of society they can be? There really is no downside."
Take Stock works hard to identify the students' strengths and interests in order to help guide them toward a field in which they can thrive, including places like Manatee Technical College, where they might learn a trade if it is a better fit than a more traditional liberal arts program might be. They also work closely with local schools like State College of Florida where students can often commute from home, stretching the value of their pre-paid plan and allowing them to forgo burdensome student loans.
They are in the process of extending the support structure to offer more support to students while they are in college to prevent students from falling through the cracks once they've matriculated through high school.
"Each year, we're learning new things to focus on in terms of adding support to make sure every student has everything they need in order to be successful all the way through."
The only thing that seems to trouble Dill is the fact that the organization cannot help all of the students in need. That's why they are currently undertaking an ambitious campaign to raise the number of student scholarships to 100 each year.
Dill explains that the two biggest fundraisers the organization does each year are its annual prayer breakfast (which took place January 26) and its annual 5 and 10K run, which happens to take place this weekend (see banner below), both of which are excellent ways for the community to contribute.
Financial contributions can also be made at the Take Stock Manatee website (click here to donate). Because the Florida Prepaid College Foundation matches donations dollar for dollar, every $10,000 in donations is doubled and becomes enough for one student scholarship. Think about that for a moment. Just $10,000 guarantees a less fortunate student in your community a chance to earn a college degree.
The organization is also always looking for new mentors–and will be even more so as they expand their scholarship slots. Click here for information about mentoring a Take Stock student.
As we've continued to highlight in this series, there are many ways to help make this a stronger community and several terrific organizations that facilitate such missions. However, there are few more direct ways to disrupt the cycle of poverty that plagues neighborhoods in this and nearly every community in the nation than to incentivize a child who comes from a less fortunate background with the promise of a guaranteed college education with the support of an adult mentor. Take Stock has had a measurable impact on such students in our community, and the expansion of their services to more of our children will only continue to pay further dividends that each and every one of us will benefit from.
Dennis
Maley is a featured columnist and editor for The Bradenton Times. He is the author of the novel, A Long
Road Home, and the brand new short story collection, Casting Shadows,
which can be ordered in paperback here, or in the Amazon Kindle store here.
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