GEAR UP is a federal discretionary grant program, which provides funding to partnerships of colleges, universities and school districts. In return, the grantees institute early intervention programs for students such as mentoring, college and summer job advising, and academic tutoring to help low-income students prepare to enter and succeed at post-secondary education. Grantees institute partnerships within their communities with local businesses, hospitals, museums, and learning and community centers. Institutions also provide professional development and college preparation courses for parents and school staff. Since its formation in 1999, GEAR UP has established over 323 partnerships in over 36 states.

GEAR UP Washington has a reputation amongst its colleagues as a very successful program. GEAR UP Washington branches into six GEAR UP project sites. Lower Yakima Valley GEAR UP is one of GEAR UP Washington's success stories, serving over eight rural school districts in Central Washington. In the first year, the program served over 1,200 students and is predicted to serve over 7,000 students by the fifth year. The program has partnerships with the community health and learning facilities and local college and universities as well as national technology corporations. Through federal and partnership dollars, Lower Yakima Valley GEAR UP is able to provide trained tutors for academic remediation, student portfolios to help each student systematically prepare for the college and career choice the student seeks, counseling and academic career planning, community service activities and state of the art computers for computer training. Lower Yakima Valley GEAR UP seeks "to ensure that disadvantaged middle-and high-school students are prepared for, pursue and succeed in postsecondary education."

GEAR UP Web site: http://www.ed.gov/gearup

Contact:

Loueta Johnson
Project Director, Lower Yakima Valley GEAR UP
PO Box 22520
Yakima Valley Community College
Yakima, WA 98907

Phone: (509) 574-6810
Web site: http://twovalleys-onevision.org/