Wisconsin College Access Project-
UWC Growth Agenda Grant
WIPPS wrote, received and managed a 2009-2010 UWC Growth Agenda grant for $98,305, called Wisconsin College Access (WCA). The WCA project coordinated efforts among the 13 UWC campuses to promote the national Know How to Go (KH2G) college readiness program in Wisconsin by enlisting and training college undergraduates, faculty and staff as mentors to 2,358 middle and high school students . The national program, co-sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, the Ad Council of America, and the American Council on Education, encourages low-income students in grades eight to ten and their families to take the necessary steps towards college admission. WIPPS coordinated the grant activities at participating UWC campuses, which included: training college student mentors, creating and overseeing mentoring relationships with local public school students, organizing campus visits, developing and disseminating curricular resources and materials for future UW System adoption, coordinating assessment activities, and organizing a yearly KH2G Training Conference. All activities were designed to increase the capacity of UWC campuses to deliver KH2G Statewide, and the appointment of Greg Peter, UWC Service Learning Coordinator, as WCA Grant Coordinator ensured that this multitude of collaborative endeavors would promote sustainability of the grant’s component parts throughout the UWCs and replicability throughout the UW System. Collaborators on this grant initiative included: the Wisconsin statewide KH2G Network, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, UW System, the Wisconsin Technical Colleges System, all 13 UW Colleges campuses and their local Department of Public Instruction offices, UW- Extension 4H programs, and other agencies providing pre-college programs, such as Upward Bound, Gear Up, TRIO, and College Goal Sunday.