Corrective Action Plan:
For the Educational Opportunity Centers project, it is important to note that during the 2021-2022 project year, the EOC were still operating in a global pandemic that resulted in lower post-secondary educational enrollments nationally. Accompanied by remote work conditions and lack of access to many of the community partners where recruitment occurs, it was extremely difficult to recruit participants.
The College is taking the following steps for EOC:
1) Return to fully in-person work (done)
2) Achieve full staffing (done)
3) Pursue new community partnership opportunities
4) Implement new events (FASFA workshops, career workshops, etc.)
For the North Central MA Talent Search Program (NCMTS), we were back in schools and regaining our footing due to the pandemic. We lost our partnership with Ralph C. Mahar School District, so we had one less school district to work with, which meant less students to recruit. With the loss of a partner school and only two full time staff members with our director pulling double duty covering both the NCMTS grant and the UBMS grant for that school year the program had a difficult time recruiting.
The College is taking the following steps for NCMTS:
1) Work in teams to recruit as well as working with the school districts to better streamline our recruitment process.
2) Hire Staff – throughout the year, NCMTS has had a staffing shortage. We only had one full-time staff person for NCMTS, no part-time staffing and four school districts to work with for the current year. We have hired another full-time staff member and are in the process of hiring a split-funded (50% NCMTS 50% ETS) position which will put us in all of our target schools at least 2 days a week.
3) Increase our outreach to students and families to be readily available for workshops.
4) Increase in school workshops and increase recruitment opportunities.
Timeline for Implementation of Corrective Action Plan:
The correction action plan has already been implemented beginning with the loosening of COVID restrictions beginning in the 2022-2023 award year.
Contact Person:
Valerie LePorte, Director of North Central Educational Opportunity Center
Monique Coulson, Director of North Central MA Talent Search