NAU-Yuma gets $2.7M grant to help students ease into college
The Helios Education Foundation, a nonprofit based in Arizona and Florida, has awarded a $2.7 million grant to Northern Arizona University-Yuma to create a new program that provides help for students transitioning into college.
According to a press release from NAU, the initiative, dubbed the Yuma Education Success, or YES, program, is a “collaborative effort” between NAU-Yuma, Arizona Western College and Yuma Union High School District.
“Arizona Western College is
thrilled to join our longtime partners Yuma Union High School District, NAU and the Helios Education Foundation in increasing postsecondary education attainment for students from Yuma,” said Daniel Corr, president of Arizona Western College, in the release. “The Yuma Educational Success program is exactly what our Yuma first-generation students need and we are certain this will move the needle regarding bachelor’s degree completion in Yuma County.”
NAU President Rita Cheng also said in the release that the schools were cooperating to provide support to “first-generation and underrepresented students.”
“Together, our collaboration will ensure students in the Yuma region can complete a degree prepared for a job, enhancing their lives and the economy of our state,” she said.
The $2.7 million will go toward funding a number of different things including academic support, advising, internships and the two-week “Bridge to Success Experience” summer program that helps Yuma students make the jump to college.
Over $1.5 million of the money will also go toward scholarships, according to Grace Maseda, Helios’ vice president of marketing. The release also said that the program aims to help 200 students every semester.
Vince Yanez, senior vice president of Arizona community engagement at Helios, said that the nonprofit awarded the grant money to NAU-Yuma for the YES program because of the school’s “very good track record,” citing a similar program that was in place at NAU’s Flagstaff campus.
“Most of the program elements that are included in this particular grant were actually originally developed in a similar program in northern Arizona that NAU has operated for several years now,” Yanez said. “So what we were able to do is take what NAU had put in place in northern Arizona (and) bring to Yuma those pieces that we believe were most impactful.”
He also said that a strong partnership that was already in place between Helios and YUHSD contributed to their decision.
“We’ve been working with the district for many years,” Yanez said.
The work that Helios and YUHSD have done together revolves mainly around Ready Now Yuma, a cooperative initiative between the two entities with the goal of increasing the number of students that graduate and go on to attend college.
Eric Patten, YUHSD’s communications director, said that the YES program builds on the work that the two organizations have been doing for years.
“Having every student be college, career and community prepared was something that Helios worked with us to get, you know, on board with and get the community on board with almost a decade ago now,” said Patten. “And this, to me, was a natural extension of Helios’ work in Yuma and our partnership and that college-going culture with our district, as well.”