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JumpStart, Northeastern University, Wheelock College, and Suffolk University win Carter Partnership Award for partnership in Roxbury School Readiness for All Initiative

The 2007 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration was awarded to Jumpstart, Northeastern University, Wheelock College, and Suffolk University for their partnership in the Roxbury School Readiness Initiative which teams college students with preschoolers for one-on-one tutoring.

"Public Consulting Group, Inc. stands in the crossroads of private enterprise and public good and we are thrilled to sponsor this award," said William Mosakowski, President and CEO of the company. "As a private company, we help health care, human services and education organizations improve their financial and program performance. PCG is proud to support the Carter Partnership to recognize colleges and educational institutions who actively improve the communities in which they do business. Congratulations to the winners, the finalists and all of the nominees."

The Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC), a nonprofit coalition of 75 Bay State college and university presidents co-chaired by UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack and Clark University President John Bassett, sponsored the event, which was held at UMass Boston. Leaders from the business, civic, and higher learning communities attended the event.

Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization, brought their School Readiness for All initiative to Roxbury in 2004, in answer to a growing need for student preparation in a community where 1,649 children live in households below the federal poverty line. Such economic disadvantage has been shown to have a direct effect on a child's success in school.

The School Readiness for All initiative's goal is to provide intensive, year-long, individualized mentoring to every four-year-old child in Roxbury who needs help. Now in its third year, the initiative, with the help of college student-mentors, has prepared 550 children at 15 preschools for success in school, and it is on a pace to reach 350 students annually by the fall of 2007. Plans are underway to expand the initiative to the communities of Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and eventually, all of Boston.

President John Bassett of Clark University, who received the Carter Award in 2004 and presented the 2007 award, said, "The Carter Award is a wonderful way to recognize the benefit to cities of real partnerships between colleges and communities. It symbolizes the shared goals of Campus Compact and the Carter Foundation. Clark University and the Main South CDC are especially proud to have been the first recipient in the Commonwealth but know that dozens of other similar partnerships are every day making life better for citizens in Massachusetts. Colleges that have been successful value being recognized for the same things for which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have long been recognized - leadership in making life better for their fellow citizens."

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said, "We gather tonight at most opportune time. Leaders across Massachusetts - those with the megaphones and bully pulpits - are championing public and community service, and I believe they are creating an atmosphere where public service is truly valued again. With this award, we at the Massachusetts Campus Compact encourage the value of service learning. The School Readiness for All initiative has teamed energetic, smart college students with hundreds of at-risk preschoolers in Roxbury. The goal, to reach every single needy preschooler in that community, is ambitious but certainly within reach thanks to the tremendous effort and commitment of students and their institutions."

Barbara Canyes, Executive Director of the MACC, said, "This winning partnership program exemplifies the Carter mission of addressing critical public issues such as school readiness through coalitions between higher education and community partners."

The finalists for the Partnership Award were chosen by a committee composed of representatives from higher education, business, government, and community groups throughout Massachusetts. The other finalists they selected were:

• UMass Lowell and the Peruvian Ministry of Health, for their collaboration on the Village Empowerment Partnership, a rural development program in which college students design and install sustainable systems in remote Peruvian villages; and
• The partnership between Harvard University's Philips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and Mayor Menino's Boston Youth Fund, which provides youth employment positions in PBHA's Summer Urban Program, a network of summer camps for low-income children who live in Boston.

About the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award
Since 2000, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award has recognized outstanding examples of campus-community collaboration that serve the community.

About the Public Consulting Group
The Public Consulting Group was established in 1986 as a privately-held healthcare consulting firm, and has grown into a thriving organization with hundreds of professionals located in offices throughout the United States. PCG professionals offer innovative solutions to improve the management and operations in the fields of government, education, healthcare, and information technology.

About Jumpstart
Jumpstart was founded in 1993 at Yale University at the intersection of two national trends: the public need for quality early childhood programs and the emerging national service movement recruiting thousands of college students to community service.