On March 26, Kathy McDonald, FCAN’s Assistant Director for Network Partnerships, hosted a webinar spotlighting the Destination Graduation program, which helps low-income, first-generation, and veteran students overcome non-academic barriers to college completion. Kathy was joined by guest presenters Keren Rohena, Emergency Assistance Programs Manager for Heart of Florida United Way, and Dr. Jan Lloyd-Lesley, Assistant Vice President of Student Development at Seminole State College.
Destination Graduation recently unveiled a free toolkit designed to help other colleges and community partners implement this student support.
Get to Know: Destination Graduation
Destination Graduation, a collaboration through Central Florida College Access Network with Heart of Florida United Way and Seminole State College of Florida — helps students stay in college by providing assistance with “life” needs, such as food and housing insecurity, utilities, transportation and child care. The program takes a comprehensive approach, providing timely referrals to community services and emergency aid to students facing immediate need.
Destination Graduation Toolkit
The toolkit allows leaders interested in replicating Destination Graduation in their communities to complete a Self-Assessment. Users are then urged to fill out an application to gain access to the full toolkit, which will guide community leaders through the process of creating working groups, applying for grants, drafting a memorandum of understanding, and much more.
Impact of Destination Graduation
Since 2015 the program has helped 980 students via referrals to support services and emergency aid. The most frequent requests were related to aid for housing (35%), followed by utilities and internet service (22%) and tuition (22%). In 2018, students who were provided help had a re-enrollment rate of 84%.
Up Next: Destination Graduation at the 2019 FCAN Summit
If you’d like to learn more, Keren will present the “Destination Graduation toolkit” in a session at the 2019 Florida College Access Network Summit.
Visit fcansummit.org to register for the summit and learn more about the session.
Show Notes
To learn more about Destination Graduation — or to view the webinar and download the presentation — take advantage of these resources.
Recording
Slides
Destination Graduation website
Still Hungry and Homeless in College study
Be sure to visit our Past Webinars page for access to recordings and downloadable material from FCAN’s previous presentations.