ACCESS Expands to Springfield

September 18, 2009 - ACCESS is proud to announce that, this September, ACCESS will bring our financial aid advising and scholarship programs to the students and families of Springfield! This will be the first such time that ACCESS will offer its services outside of Boston and represents the culmination of a fiscal year that has seen dramatic growth in the organization’s programming.

After successfully steering Springfield’s budget back into the black, the Springfield Finance Control Board (SFCB), which had been managing the city’s books since 2004, has decided to reinvest the surplus in the city’s youth through the new Springfield Promise Program. This program is intended to assist in improving the educational – and thereby economic – prospects for the young people of Springfield. In recognition of the large, and growing, effect affordability has on educational opportunity and college success rates, the SFCB has contracted with ACCESS to provide our effective financial aid advising and last dollar scholarship programs to every public high school in Springfield. This expansion will be fully funded by the city of Springfield for the next five years.

“ACCESS is truly honored to have been selected by the Springfield Finance Control Board to lead this initiative,” said Bob Giannino-Racine, ACCESS Executive Director. “The financial barriers to higher education facing Springfield’s students and families are ones that are confronted by far too many across the Commonwealth. Thankfully, our years of experience in Boston have put ACCESS in the unique position to be able to provide the city with tested and proven programs to increase the educational opportunities for Springfield’s residents. Indeed, our selection by the Board is an affirmation of the value our programs provide to the city of Boston every year.”

This expansion to Springfield comes at the end of a school year that has seen the dramatic growth of our programs within Boston as well, fueled by new and increased grants from some of the areas largest philanthropic organizations. Not only did longtime supporters like The Boston Foundation and The Highland Street Foundation renew their funding at higher levels, but they were also joined by a new group of foundations led by The Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, The Wal-Mart Foundation, The Amelia Peabody Foundation and The Clowes Fund. Their support, as well as that of our many other valued donors, and returning foundations such as The Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust and The Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, have allowed ACCESS to reach more students than ever before. Such new and increased support in an economic climate such as this is testament to the important role that ACCESS plays in the lives of Boston’s young people and the strength and vision of our region’s philanthropies.

Thanks to this vital support, in addition to our expansion to Springfield, during the 2009 – 2010 school year ACCESS will launch a new four-year High School Advising Program in 10 Boston high schools, play a leading role in a new College Completion Initiative with a critical investment from the The Boston Foundation, deepen our work with community organizations and expand our postsecondary programming – all while maintaining the level of excellence and efficiency that Boston’s schools and students have come to rely on.