Achieve Hartford

We are very grateful to the Lincoln Financial Foundation for its most recent grant and for its longstanding support of our work helping underserved students start and persist in college.

We're thrilled to announce a generous grant from to support our Peer Mentoring programs that help first-generation Hartford students start and persist through their first year of community college. We're grateful to The Betty Knox Foundation's continued support for our work and the Hartford community.

The Board of Directors named Chris Marcelli as the new executive director of the 15-year-old nonprofit organization. Marcelli joined Achieve Hartford in 2016, first as programs manager and as programs director since 2020.

Marcelli earned a Master of Public Administration from UConn and a BA in Sociology and Economics from Central Connecticut State University. Since joining Achieve Hartford, he helped create, launch and oversee the expansion of programs that provide peer mentors to help first-generation students start and persist in community college. Marcelli, himself a first-gen student, began his higher education at a community college while serving in the Connecticut National Guard.

"We are very fortunate to have Chris assume leadership of Achieve Hartford," said Board Vice Chair Amanda Aponte, senior director, Strategic Planning & Business Operations, Aetna-CVS Health. "This appointment aligns with our mission to cultivate local talent and support future leaders in the Hartford area since Chris epitomizes our work. In addition, Chris' dedication to the organization over the years is undeniable and a clear asset as we head into 2023."

The organization’s programs, which started by serving only Hartford students, have gradually expanded since 2020 to serve students from 16 communities in Central and Eastern Connecticut who are attending five community colleges—Capital, Manchester, Middlesex, Quinebaug Valley, and Three Rivers Community Colleges. Undergraduate upperclassmen from similar backgrounds to the served population are hired and trained to provide peer mentorship to graduating high school seniors and new college first-years.

Achieve Hartford’s mission is to help ensure low-income students in Connecticut without a clear plan for life after high school successfully transition into and complete post-secondary education. The organization relies on grants from foundations, receiving long-term funding from several foundations, including Travelers, Prudential, The Hartford, Lincoln Financial, Social Venture Partners, CVS-Aetna, H.A. Vance, Liberty, Gawlicki, Betty Knox and a recent multi-year grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

This , we're grateful for our mentors like Isis Murillo Bravo, who shares her own struggles with first-year students. Your gift helps first-generation college students overcome challenges.

Mentor Guides, Reassures New Students – All IN! Coalition Mentor Guides, Reassures New Students 0 comments/ November 29, 2021 In her three years as a student at Manchester Community College, Isis Murillo Bravo has requested more financial aid, struggled with several classes and dropped four, disliked a professor and questioned her competence for college-le...

We're grateful to The Prudential Foundation for its
$125,000 grant to Achieve Hartford to support the organization’s direct service work and the ALL IN! Coalition for College and Career Readiness that serves Hartford Public Schools graduates. With the ongoing pandemic increasing levels of uncertainty for the high school Class of 2022 and current college students, Hartford youth need support more than ever. With its partners, such as The Prudential Foundation, Achieve Hartford is working to close opportunity gaps HPS graduates face in reaching their goals to attain post-secondary education.

Thanks to The Betty Knox Foundation for its generous grant to support our work to help underserved, first-generation Hartford students. To address the opportunity gap, our peer mentors work w/ Capital & Manchester Community College students to provide guidance, answer questions & connect to resources.

Nonprofits support grads through crucial summer
https://www.allinhartford.org/nonprofits-support-hartford-grads-throughout-crucial-summer/

The Hartford Student Internship Program for the Class of 2021 began with a very different goal than the program’s previous seven years. Because of the pandemic, the ALL IN! Coalition directed resources away from students already on track for post-secondary education to those students without a plan. As the pandemic persisted, it became so much more.
https://www.allinhartford.org/relationships-key-to-success/

Lincoln Financial has put together a list of resources & answers to FAQs to guide folks toward help as the pandemic continues:

Community updates | Lincoln Financial Lincoln Financial is committed to helping our communities navigate the impacts of COVID-19. Learn more about how we are combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

We're grateful to the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for a grant supporting our work to help underserved, first-gen students start & persist in community college. The $50K grant will help fund programs providing peer mentors to students attending our partner colleges, Capital Community and Manchester Community Colleges.

A Chicago teacher has some excellent insight worth reading.

Why white journalists need to stop focusing on 'learning loss' - kappanonline.org A Chicago teacher and blogger sees too much education coverage that catastrophizes remote learning, downplays pre-existing structural problems, and minimizes students’ successes.

Let the students you work with know: Tomorrow, 7/15 is the deadline for first-time college students from CT to register for free community college.

Deadline to apply for free community college in Connecticut is Thursday. Here’s how to register. Connecticut students have until Thursday night to apply for the state’s debt-free community college program, the Pledge to Advance Connecticut.