By Kim Cook, Executive Director, with Kelly Mae Ross, Communications Manager
In a year filled with immense change, challenges, and uncertainty, NCAN members never stopped showing up for students – even when they couldn’t do so in person.
As a small way to recognize your tireless commitment to supporting students and dismantling the inequitable barriers on their path to postsecondary education, we wanted to take a moment to say thank you.
Thank you for thinking of new ways to stay in touch with students when schools and campuses were shuttered. Thank you for mailing out FAFSA reminders, distributing Wi-Fi hot spots, and hosting virtual events to offer support and encouragement to students
and their families.
Thank you for continuing to center equity and racial justice in the college access and success space. Thank you for being vocal about the need to reform systems and institutions that were designed to exclude students of color and students from low-income
backgrounds.
Thank you for continuing to serve others even as you were facing challenges within your own home or family. COVID has impacted all of us, and there is something truly special about folx who were willing and able to keep suiting up and showing up for other
people during such a frightening, uncertain, and quite frankly exhausting time.
Thank you for advocating for policies to help our students obtain the resources they need to pursue postsecondary education during a pandemic (and beyond). Expanded SNAP benefits, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program,
emergency aid grants from colleges and universities – these types of policies come to fruition because people
like you speak up.
Thank you for all that you’ve done and continue to do, day in and day out, to help our students achieve their educational dreams.
We reached out to NCAN board members and funders and gave them the opportunity to express their gratitude to our members. You can read their responses below.
“This school year, college access and success practitioners across the country have persevered through innumerable challenges, some of which seemed too hard to bear. Through it all, you have supported our students to help them reach their dreams of college access and success. I am so deeply grateful for your dedication and commitment to helping our students achieve their goals. Thank you!”
–Tina Fernandez, Executive Director, Achieve Atlanta
“The last 15 months have created so many new challenges for students already burdened with too many challenges. NCAN members across the country doubled down on their efforts to identify and meet new student needs and keep students engaged and on track to achieve their higher education goals. While "thank you" feels wholly inadequate to recognize this herculean effort, thank you!”
–Amy Kerwin, Vice President - Education Philanthropy, Ascendium
“In a year of tragedy, conflict, and pain, I've continued to be amazed and uplifted by the ways in which the college access field has adapted and continually endeavored to ensure students' dreams are not deferred. Thank you for your passion, hard work, and faith in the potential of our nation's students.”
–Bill Tucker, Senior Advisor, Pathways, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“From all of us at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, thank you for your hard work and determination to serve all our nation's students. Your dedication, expertise, and kindness will set students up for success in these incredibly difficult times. You inspire all of us to remain focused on creating pathways to postsecondary success.”
–Farhad Asghar, Program Officer, Carnegie Corporation of New York
“Theodore Roosevelt once said, ‘Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.’ These words embody the calling you fulfill when you perform the great work of shaping lives and influencing future generations of families. Thank you for all you do!”
–Sujuan Boutte, Executive Director, Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance
“Your inspired work has never been more necessary and relevant than it is today. Thank you for your hard and dedicated work with learners. Every interaction creates opportunity for improved outcomes and trajectories for these learners. Thank you.”
–Ricardo Torres, CEO and President, National Student Clearinghouse
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