The Kresge Foundation will provide a $75,000 grant to supplement the University of New Orleans and College Beyond partnership. College Beyond has been supporting students on the UNO campus since 2016. With this grant from the Kresge Foundation, College Beyond will be able to support up to 100 additional UNO students in its coaching program during the upcoming school year. Read more here !
College Beyond is delighted to welcome Mia Gonzales Washington to our team.
A New Orleans native, Mia comes to College Beyond with more than a decade of experience educating and coaching New Orleans students in K-12 and higher education institutions. She joins the organization as a College Success Coach focused on supporting our students at the University of New Orleans.
You can learn more about Mia on our Who We Are page.
Welcome, Mia!
College Beyond’s founding college success coach, Erica Martinez, and four New Orleans students traveled to Capitol Hill to learn about advocacy and speak with congressional leaders about key educational topics. Three of the students attend University of New Orleans, and one attends Southeastern Louisiana University. The four students are all first-generation college students, and are active on their respective campuses. College Beyond is thankful to the National College Access Network (NCAN) for providing the funding for the students to travel to Washington, D.C. NCAN works to empower communities that are committed to college access for all. They aim to ensure all students, especially those who are underrepresented, can achieve their educational dreams through a higher education institution.
Read more about the College Beyond students and their experience in Washington D.C. in this Nola.com and Big Easy Magazine feature!
The College Beyond team is delighted to share our third annual Impact Report, which contains exciting news: last year, College Beyond’s students closed the freshman retention gap at the University of New Orleans, increasing retention by more than 20 percentage points.
As this year’s report details, closing the retention gap is hugely meaningful in the lives of the individual students we serve — but it also changes the narrative about what is possible in our city more broadly.
Download the full report here.
None of this would be possible without the students, families, staff, board members, and supporters who invest their time, hearts, and resources in this work every day. Many thanks and kudos to all for your dedication!
Our executive director, Paris Woods was honored as a Young Leadership Council (YLC) Role Model in the 2018 Class. The YLC is an organization that develops leadership through community projects. YLC role models are selected based on their contribution to improving New Orleans. Read more about the YLC here.
Our executive director, Paris Woods, was selected to participate in the Fall 2018 cohort of the Pahara NextGen Fellowship this year. Pahara is a 12-month leadership program that equips leaders to strengthen and shape the future of the educational excellence and equity movement. It is important to cultivate and support leaders who represent communities that are currently not well served by our public schools. The fellowship is an amazing opportunity that will equip individuals to amplify underrepresented voices and support those who will become senior leaders in the educational field. Click here to learn more about Pahara.
Michelle and Jourdan joined our team this past September, and we are delighted to have them with us. Michelle Anaba is an Americorps Vista member who is our current Operations Systems and Program Implementation Designer. Michelle will be evaluating data and performing program planning and evaluation. She also assists the college success coach with contacting and engaging with students. She graduated from Towson University with a degree in Community Health and relocated New Orleans to fulfill her passion for helping underserved communities.
Jourdan Clark is a senior and Mass Communications Major at Dillard University, and has joined our team as a Social Media and Communications Intern. She will be managing our marketing, branding, and public relations efforts. She also works under College Beyond board member Malana Joseph Mitchell, who is an award-winning public relations and brand strategist and current Vice President at the Spears Group.
College Beyond now has an office space for the college success coach to meet with students on campus! The office is located in the University of New Orleans library.
College Beyond has moved! We are now located at the Taylor Education Center in New Orleans’ Warehouse District. We are excited to be located on 4.0 Schools’ floor with other nonprofits doing amazing work in New Orleans. Our new address is:
College Beyond
612 Andrew Higgins Blvd, 3rd Floor
New Orleans, LA 70130
College Beyond is delighted to welcome local data and analytics expert Dr. Keisha Smith to our Board of Directors.
A New Orleans native, Dr. Smith currently serves as the Director of Products and Publications for The Data Center. She has worked in organizational design and evaluation for over ten years, including serving on projects for the U.S. Department of Education, Drexel University, Walgreens, and the National Institute of Health, and has more than seven years of experience as a non-profit leader focused on systems thinking and strategic planning.
Dr. Smith holds a B.S. in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Research from Louisiana State University.