Month: May 2024

Birmingham Promise interns help develop overdose-prevention technology

Posted on May 30, 2024

Birmingham Promise interns were recently highlighted in an article on AL.com for their role in helping to develop OD Revive, a wearable device that monitors individual’s breathing and oxygen and can alert emergency contacts and first responders to a potential overdose.

Recent Ramsay High School graduate Amber Moore worked on the prototype as an intern at OD Revive. She said the Birmingham Promise internship helped her understand addiction and gave her insight into an uncle who struggled with addiction. “One of my relatives overdosed and I was thinking, what if he had the bracelet that we’re currently trying to make,” Moore is quoted as saying.

A big shout-out to OD Revive for providing this kind of opportunity for our students!

Parents: Birmingham Promise reduces stress of educating your child

Posted on May 30, 2024

Jordan Abdur-Rasheed had no shortage of college scholarship offers when he graduated from Ramsay IB High School in 2023. But only one option covered the full cost of his tuition, said his mother, Yolanda Coleman.

That was the Birmingham Promise.

Birmingham Promise allows graduates of Birmingham City Schools to attend any in-state public college, tuition free, for up to four years. For Jordan, the program is covering tuition so that he can get an aerospace engineering degree from Auburn University.

“Participating in the Birmingham promise is one of the most substantial decisions a parent can make if their child is pursuing a college degree in the state of Alabama,” said Ms. Coleman. “It takes away the financial stress that can discourage students from  the idea of going to college.”

In Jordan’s case, the question was never whether he would go to college. The question was how to pay for it.

“Without Birmingham Promise, Jordan’s mom, stepmom and I would have been faced with the burden of helping him navigate the financial challenges often associated with college and debt,” said Jordan’s father, Aquil Abdur-Rasheed. “Loans and other options for him and for us might have been the alternative.”

Without having to worry about the financial burdens of a college education, Jordan has been free to focus on his studies, and he has “soared academically and socially his first year at Auburn,” his father said.

In addition to resolving financial concerns, Birmingham Promise provides coaches for its scholars, and that has also been an important resource for Jordan as he adjusted to his first year away from home at college.

“Being a part of Birmingham Promise has been one of the most influential parts of my college career,” he said. “Taking advantage of the program and all of the help they give us almost makes Birmingham Promise feel like a life saver.”

That, too, is no small thing for his parents.

“It does my heart good to know that my child, my only son, is away from us but still connected to family,” Abdur-Rasheed said. “His Birmingham Promise peers and success coaches are like family as they all play a role in helping him navigate college successfully. I wish I had a village like Birmingham Promise when I was in school!”

The benefits offered by Birmingham Promise further reinforce the decision for Jordan to attend Birmingham City Schools, where he started in pre-K and “enjoyed every year.”

“I made the decision to keep Jordan in Birmingham City Schools long before the existence of Birmingham Promise,” Coleman said. “Both Jordan’s father and I are products of Birmingham City Schools, and we believed Jordan would receive the same quality education that has contributed to our successful careers.”

Still, Birmingham Promise gives parents another reason to stay in Birmingham City Schools, and Coleman said she would encourage parents in the system to explore the college options made available through the program.

“Most students will not receive a full-ride scholarship,” she said. “Birmingham Promise stands in the gap to make sure all graduating students have the opportunity to go to college with the financial assistance and support they need to be successful.”

As much as she appreciates what Birmingham Promise has done for her son, she also appreciates what it does for other students who face a range of barriers to college, including what she believes is the largest one: costs.

“The cost of college is very expensive even for a two-income household,” she said. “Birmingham Promise makes going to college a reality for so many kids that never thought they could afford college.”

If Abdur-Rasheed has a regret, it’s that Jordan’s academic and athletic schedule in high school made it impossible for him to participate in the other main component of Birmingham Promise – a paid internship program for seniors.

“As  parents, we would tell other parents to engage their children in Birmingham Promise as early as possible,” Jordan’s parents said. “We believe Birmingham Promise does an amazing job of preparing students for the workforce through their high school internship program and in walking alongside our children through their collegiate journey. We are grateful!”

WBRC Fox 6 highlights Birmingham Promise in graduation coverage

Posted on May 30, 2024

Birmingham Promise Executive Director Samantha Williams and Ramsay High School’s Amber Moore were featured in recent news coverage arising from the city schools’ recent graduation ceremonies. Thank you to Sarah Verser and WBRC Fox 6 for sharing our story!

Of 1,100 graduates this year from Birmingham City Schools, more than 600 have applied for scholarships from Birmingham Promise, the story reported. Amber is one of those students, and she will attend Alabama State University tuition-free.  Congratulations to all our graduates, and we are excited to assist you on the next leg of your journey!

UAB marks fourth year of special partnership with Birmingham Promise

Posted on May 1, 2024

Birmingham Promise offers graduates of Birmingham City Schools the chance to go to any public college or university in Alabama tuition-free. But the University of Alabama at Birmingham goes above and beyond to support Birmingham Promise and its scholarship students.

Since the launch of Birmingham Promise in 2020, UAB has been unique among colleges in being an equal partner in the financial commitment to cover tuition for the program’s scholarship recipients.  Once a student’s grants and other scholarships are applied, the remaining tuition expenses are split evenly between UAB and Birmingham Promise.

“That’s a tremendous investment on the part of UAB – an investment in the lives of these students and in the sustainability of Birmingham Promise as an organization,” said Samantha Williams, executive director of Birmingham Promise. “It allows us to stretch our mission to better serve students across the board.”

For UAB, Birmingham Promise is a natural ally in its larger goal of removing barriers to higher education and ensuring students from all communities have access to college.

“The beauty of the Birmingham Promise for our students is that we’ve taken out of the equation the cost of tuition,” said DeeDee Barnes Bruns, executive director of New Student Programs and Community Recruitment Partnerships at UAB. “We believe this is good and changes lives and gives us an opportunity to break some cycles in a lot of instances. This is a university commitment and a commitment a lot of us share across the campus.”

UAB has so far provided more than $1.6 million in tuition support for Birmingham Promise students. It also has invested heavily in programs to help shepherd its Birmingham Promise scholars through college, an effort it has continued to enhance over the past four years.

“We’re always looking for ways to make it better,” said Bruns, who was a first-generation college student herself. “The more we recognize our students’ needs, the better we are able to meet those needs. We’re trying to meet them where they are and get them to where they want to be.”

Among the services provided to Birmingham Promise students at UAB:

  • Older Birmingham Promise students are assigned as a mentor to each incoming Birmingham Promise student. “It’s all a part of integrating them into the campus,” said David Dada, director of Governmental Relations at UAB. “We know that’s important to their overall success.”
  • A range of special programs help acclimate students to UAB and to college generally, an especially important resource for those who may be the first in their family to attend a university. Programs focus on subjects related to academic success, such as study habits, time management and free tutoring, but they also cover tips for navigating the everyday business of going to college.
  • UAB maintains intensive contact with the students – Bruns calls it “intrusive advising” – to make sure students are on track academically and in a good place overall. Although the check-ins are informal, perhaps over a soft drink at the student center, they are required and a top priority of the university. “We try to be very intentional about it,” Dada said.
  • Special programs prepare students for post-college success, linking them with career resources on campus and coaching them on soft skills critical to workplace success.
  • For Birmingham Promise students pursuing healthcare degrees, additional expenses for books and summer tuition can be covered by UAB under a federal grant received by the City of Birmingham to jumpstart healthcare careers.

UAB graduated its first Birmingham Promise scholar last year. Destiny Nelson-Miles had already amassed 69 hours of college credit by the time she graduated at the top of her class at Woodlawn High School in 2021. In 2023, the 19-year-old walked across the stage to receive her diploma at UAB, boasting a 3.88 grade point average and the honor of being the outstanding finance student graduating from the Collat School of Business.

This semester, another nine students from Birmingham Promise earned bachelor’s degrees in a range of areas, including social work, political science, nursing, finance, human resource management, kinesiology and public health.

This year’s graduates are among the first group of Birmingham Promise scholarship students. They finished high school in 2020 and wrapped up their senior year and started college with the COVID pandemic in full swing.

That created special challenges for them, Bruns said. But in some ways, the first students had an advantage over subsequent classes, Bruns said. The first cohort of students remained in the classroom until the tail end of their senior year of high school.

Students who were high school freshmen and sophomores during the pandemic were forced to complete some key foundational classes – such as algebra, English composition, and lab sciences – at home on their own.

UAB has responded by adding even more touch points and doing even more to make sure Birmingham Promise students are on track and getting the resources they need to succeed.

As the project director working on UAB’s part of the city’s Good Jobs Challenge grant, Dada stays closely engaged with students pursuing healthcare majors. He encourages them to be open about challenges as they take courses in some of the nation’s top-ranked healthcare programs and to get help when it’s needed.

“UAB is a challenging place,” Dada reassures them. “It’s going to be an effort.”

Bruns said it’s not uncommon for all students who were near the top of their high school class to be jolted to find themselves in a classroom of top students at college. “I tell them, the curve is in a different place,” she said.

To help Birmingham Promise students adjust, UAB makes it a point to identify gaps that students may have and help them connect with resources that can help. During regular check-ins, Bruns asks what university resources students are using. Whether they are participating in study groups. Whether they are feeling OK. Whether they’ve gotten a flu shot.

In some cases, UAB finds that students are facing enormous challenges that go far beyond classroom ability or performance.

Even among Birmingham Promise students, there are wide gaps in the opportunities that students have had, the preparations they’ve had for college, the level of support they receive from home and the challenges they face, Bruns said.

But there’s no question that some Birmingham Promise students have experienced disproportionate hardships, she said. They may be working to help support their families, keeping younger siblings in the evening while their parents work, struggling to afford textbooks or trying to write papers on their phones.

“The classroom is a big enough adjustment in itself,” she said. “But there are so many levels of speed bumps or other kinds of barriers they are having to navigate in addition to the classroom.”

But it’s worth the effort when UAB sees Birmingham Promise students get through college to the finish line.

“The fact that so many rise to the challenge, it tells me they are looking to make a difference and that is a huge ingredient to success,” Bruns said. “These are a lot of hardworking students with aspiration, goals, and big dreams. When you see students overcome challenges and move steadily toward success, that is the best feeling ever.”