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Community Corner

Groundwork for Success: College is Within Reach

A free program that provides area youth a leg-up for college

Groundwork for Success (GWS), a program that started in East New York, has been extended to Bed-Stuy in the Sumner Community Center located at 862 Park Avenue.

The program helps urban youth realize their potential to attend college via a free, four-year college preparation curriculum that instills attitudes of success and self-worth in young people through personal development and mentoring.

In addition, the GWS program provides academic support, leadership development, paid internships and college prep classes. A music program and lifeguard program have also recently been added.

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According to Groundwork Campus Director Derek Wood, GWS also “prepares college readiness, helps students with the college application process and gives them what they need to look at and achieve to get into college.”

Groundwork for Success is a part of Groundwork Inc., a nonprofit, community outreach group founded in 2002 with the goal of designing programs to support families in need within two of the city’s most impoverished areas: East New York and Bed-Stuy.

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Other programs include Groundwork for Youth, Family Resource Center and Single Step, a free “one stop shop” provides one-on-one assistance on legal, financial and other needs.

At the Groundwork Bed-Stuy center, two floors of classrooms are outfitted with computers as well as space for recreational and educational activities that include art and culinary classes. About 100 kids now participate in the center, but in a community where 35 percent of the residents live in poverty, there’s an urgent need to reach out to more.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the issues that are here,” said Rashad Frazier, a community engagement specialist at Groundwork. “Groundwork is still growing out here as far as an awareness standpoint.

"So we’re meeting with a lot of churches, business owners, civic leaders, tenant associations, block associations, things of that nature to let them know what we have available for the kids as well as the adults. [We want to] let them know that we have programs here that are available to the community that are free and you should take advantage of them.”

The college prep courses at Groundwork are a particular boon to a community where cycles of low academic achievement have been a big problem.

“We start off with them in the elementary program,” said Wood, “and our aim is to make sure that students are aware, especially in New York, that you have choices from middle school. That they have opportunities to steer where they’re going.

"Because from seventh and eight grade, your scores are going to effect which schools are open to you.”

Groundwork’s GWS program also features college tours in schools from Brooklyn to Washington D.C. Success coaches at Groundwork sit down with students to provide motivation and work hand to hand with youths seriously interested in pursuing college.

Despite challenges such as poverty, peer pressure and low expectations that many urban youth face, the staff at the Groundwork center in Bed-Stuy remains dedicated in its mission of helping those in need “from the cradle to college.”

“Not only can you gain an education from college, it’s just a learning experience about life,” said Christina Ferdinand, a recent college graduate and also a Community Engagement Specialist at Groundwork.

“Living in housing projects like Sumner tends to restrict kids because they don’t have to travel more than ten blocks to get everything that they need in this area.

"And I believe that people need to be in different environments to learn. College not only prepares you for a better job, but you’re exposed to different things, you’re more culturally aware of other people and you’re able to cope with life’s ups and downs.”

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