The impact
Since its founding, the BEC has helped make an impact on church-based programs in Greater Boston that help urban residents reach educational goals.
1999: helped launch church-based Higher Education Resource Centers (HERCs). The Boston HERC in the South End continues to serve college-bound, urban students through its Passport (college preparation) and City Passage (mentoring) programs. It also partners with several schools in the Boston Public Schools. Formerly, there were sites located in Dorchester, Worcester, Lawrence, and Brockton.
2003: created the New City Scholars Program through a partnership with Gordon College. This successful program, which is now called the Clarendon Scholars Program, is run by Gordon, and is in its 9th year.
2007: helped Greater Boston Vineyard start a two-year college readiness program called REACH. The program was part of Vineyard Community Offerings, which has expanded to bless the community in various ways.
2009 and 2010: developed learning relationships with leaders from over 50 churches and ministries to understand how they are already serving their students and to assess the needs for further support.
2009-present: convened and supported a growing network of Christian leaders for reflection, learning, prayer, peer support, and coordinated action. Over 70 individuals representing more than 30 churches and organizations have participated in BEC learning community events and trainings.
2009-2014: helped the Greater Boston Chinese Community Services with ongoing program and staff development at its Episcopal Quincy Chinese Center. We helped to create and launch a two-year college preparation program for immigrant Chinese high school students. To date, the Xaris Zone college preparation program has served more than 60 students and helped more than 40 of them enter four- and two-year colleges.
2011-2012: took a leadership role to support the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Circle of Promise Initiative's efforts to foster partnerships between schools and faith-based institutions. We helped to plan, prepare, and facilitate a May event that gathered more than 150 school principals, staff, faith leaders, and congregants to hear about different models for partnerships and for dialogue. We helped the BPS to complete follow-up work for this event and to create documents and tools that provided interested schools and institutions with concrete next steps. We also co-presented at a BPS conference and co-hosted a workshop for BPS schools and faith-based partners.
July 2012-June 2014: serves as the Community Liaison for the BPS' Office of Community Engagement and Circle of Promise (CECoP), helping to support existing partnerships and matching more school and faith-based institutions.
July 2014-present: supporting and mobilizing churches to engage in partnerships with public schools. Also, facilitating a BEC cohort of leaders to strengthen their systemic understanding of the impact of their work.
