SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sanford-Brown, a leading provider of health care education, announced that it will offer Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) Scholarships to students who are alumni of a New York-area KIPP school. Sanford-Brown is dedicated to assisting students who wish to pursue allied health training and helping them develop the skills and gain the confidence they need to pursue the careers they want. With the KIPP Scholarships, students will be eligible to attend Sanford-Brown Institute - Garden City, Sanford-Brown Institute - New York City, Sanford-Brown Institute - White Plains, Sanford-Brown Institute - Iselin or SBI Campus – An Affiliate of Sanford-Brown - Melville locations. The first scholarships will be awarded for students who plan on starting school in September of 2011. In total, Sanford-Brown will award up to $100,000 in scholarship dollars to eligible students.
“As we learned about KIPP schools and their on-going commitment to underserved populations, we saw a tremendous opportunity to make post-secondary education more accessible to their students, as well as the parents of their students,” said Tom O’Donnell, vice president of the Health Education Strategic Business Unit of Career Education Corporation, parent company of the Sanford-Brown schools. “Our missions are very compatible and we look forward to working with KIPP NYC.”
KIPP NYC is a non-profit network of free, public charter schools that prepare students for success in college and life. In 1995 the first middle school, KIPP Academy, was started in the Bronx. Its goal was to graduate students with the strength of character and academic abilities needed to succeed in life – and in so doing, to prove what is possible in urban schools. KIPP NYC promised to do whatever was necessary to help its students succeed, and asked them, and their parents, to make similarly rigorous commitments.
Sixteen years later, KIPP NYC is still making – and keeping – the same promises. KIPP NYC has grown to serve more than 1,300 students and 800 alumni; 80% come from low-income families, 98% are African American or Latino and all are selected by lottery. KIPP Through College NYC is the alumni program for the KIPP NYC school system. It serves over 800 KIPP NYC alumni who attend non-KIPP high schools, are enrolled in college, or are starting their careers. Ninety-five percent of KIPP NYC students graduate from high school, and 86% matriculate to colleges and universities. Over 35 percent of KIPP NYC alumni who have completed 8th grade at KIPP have graduated from a four-year-college by their mid-20s, which is above the national average for all kids (31 percent) and four times the rate for low income students (8 percent).
“For many of our students, job training and certification are critical parts of the journey to self-sufficiency,” said Jane Martínez Dowling, Executive Director of KIPP NYC Through College. “Working closely with Sanford-Brown and the educational programs they offer our students will become a key component in KIPP’s efforts to help our students find affordable, high quality training opportunities that will lead them to be self-sufficient in the competitive world beyond, and to build a better tomorrow for themselves and us all.”
About KIPP
KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, began in 1994 when two young teachers—Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin—launched a program for fifth graders in a public school in inner-city Houston, TX after completing their commitment to Teach For America. Since then, KIPP has grown into a national network of 99 public charter schools in 20 states and Washington, D.C. serving over 26,000 students. Over 95 percent of students enrolled in KIPP schools are African American or Hispanic/Latino, and more than 80 percent qualify for the federal free and reduced-price meals program. To date, over 85 percent of students who have graduated from KIPP middle schools have matriculated to college. For more information, visit www.kipp.org.
About Sanford-Brown
The Sanford-Brown name dates back to 1866 when Rufus C. Crampton, a professor at Illinois College, established a school to meet the growing educational demands of post-Civil War America. Today, there are 22 campuses bearing the name Sanford-Brown College (SBC) and there are 14 other affiliated campuses operating under the names of Sanford-Brown Institute (SBI) and SBI Campus-an affiliate of Sanford-Brown. Programs vary by location. Sanford-Brown Colleges and Institutes are part of the Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ:CECO) network of universities, colleges and schools. Most Sanford-Brown Colleges and Institutes are accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). SBI - Monroeville and Pittsburgh are accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). Sanford-Brown cannot guarantee employment or salary. Find disclosures on graduation rates, student financial obligations and more at www.sanfordbrown.edu/disclosures. For more information about the Sanford-Brown schools please visit http://www.sanfordbrown.edu.