Our strength and greatest capacity to realize our goal of doubling the number of public and public charter school students in the District who graduate from college on time rests in our capacity to collaborate around agreed-on outcomes.

College Awareness Month (CAM) planning and implementation provides many opportunities for us to step outside our organizational boundaries and work as a team to create and deliver engaging, relevant, student-centered resources to help students aspire to, prepare for, enroll in, and succeed in college.

The theme of “Early Preparation + Smart College Selection = College Success” inspired the creation of outstanding tools and resources for students. For this I must thank the following groups, who to varying degrees contributed to the creation of the 2011 CAM tools and resources.

• Student Focus Groups. Students from the following schools and organizations participated in special focus groups to inform the priorities and messages that CAM would communicate: Coolidge Senior High, Anacostia Senior High, For Love of Children, and the “YOUniversity” cast at the City at Peace Summer Theatre Program.
• CAM Committee. This team met over a series of weeks to develop the theme and foci for the month: Kenneth Parker, Reach for College!; Lorenzo Catten, DC Public Schools ROTC; Crystal Stewart, Hope and Home; Kathleen St. Villiers, For Love of Children; Emma Lipscomb, YMCA, Metropolitan Washington; Cara Martin, Center for Student Opportunity; Kourtney Igbo, University of the District of Columbia Upward Bound; Chelsea Jones, Center for Student Opportunity; and Kenneth Howard, Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
• CAM Advisers. These individuals contributed content and ideas for the products and assisted with CAM planning in other ways: Kelley Coble, Reach4Success; Robyn Lingo, Posse Foundation; Angela Bugayong, College Success Foundation–DC; Bridget Jackson, Center City Public Charter School; Jessica Johnson, Scholarship Academy; Kevin Hudson and Joseph Edwards, DC Public Schools; Matthew Boyce, George Mason University; Quincy Jones, College Summit; and Ben Bisbee and Sandi Holloway, City at Peace.

Funding for the CAM resources was provided by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education through the College Access Challenge Grant.

Herbert R. Tillery
Chair, Double the Numbers Coalition