Admin Assistant Ty Streeter holding Bottom Line's award
College Board announced the winners of their annual Innovation Awards for the New England region during the College Board New England Regional Forum on February 3, 2011. Bottom Line was given an award under the category of “Getting Through” for our College Success Program. Program Coordinator Justin Strasburger accepted this award on behalf of Bottom Line at the event.
This is the second award Bottom Line has received in the last six months for our efforts to boost the college completion rates of low-income and first-generation students in Massachusetts. The program that College Board has recognized provides one-on-one guidance to students in academic, employment, financial, and personal areas during college. The personalized support that Bottom Line offers has helped 73% of the college students in this program graduate in 6 years or less, a rate nearly three times what is typical among underrepresented students.
Criteria for the Innovation Award included the impact of services and the potential for the program model to be replicated and adapted by other organizations, institutions, educators, and policymakers. Bottom Line is pleased to have been selected based on these characteristics.
Boston Executive Director Greg Johnson says, “We are proud to be the recipient of this award and represent the values that the CollegeKeys Compact upholds.” The Compact is a coalition of schools, colleges, state agencies, and non-profit organizations that aims to identify, share, and intensify ways to address the needs and challenges of increasing access and success for low-income students. “Bottom Line is an important solution to the college completion problem and we hope this award from College Board is another vehicle for us to share our methods,” says Mr. Johnson.