A $3 million grass-roots movement and marketing campaign to create a college-going culture in Texas was rolled out Monday by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The Generation TX effort will first be piloted first in San Antonio and Fort Worth.
The effort is to build support for the idea that every student, regardless of income or background, should pursue education beyond high school. On a practical level, it bales together various college-going programs, giving families one focal point for information about college and work force readiness standards, admissions and financial aid.
“We are not trying to say that every student has to have a four-year degree,” said Judith Loredo, assistant commissioner for P-16 initiatives for the Coordinating Board. Some will choose career training, others community college. But in today’s job market, students need more than a high school diploma, and everyone deserves a solid academic foundation to launch from, Loredo said.
“We just want kids to be successful,” she said. “Every student in this state is needed.”
Generation X is funded for the first two years with a $3 million federal College Access Challenge Grant. The Coordinating Board must raise more money to expand it statewide, Loredo said.
Much of the seed grant will go to a marketing contract with Milkshake Media in Austin. To mobilize people behind the message, Milkshake will work with the state’s regional P-16 councils — groups of business and education leaders helping to raise the bar on academic preparation.
Bartell Zachry, a local construction magnate and chairman of the P16Plus Council of Greater Bexar County, said his group had already appointed a splinter task force to promote a college-going culture, and called the Coordinating Board’s timing “serendipitous.”
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