Acknowledging the work of GEAR UP in increasing the number of students prepared to enter and succeed in higher education.

WHEREAS, September 22-26, 2014 had been designated as National GEAR UP Week; and

WHEREAS, The GEAR UP initiative is a competitive grant program of the United States Department of Education that was signed into law on September 29, 1998; and

WHEREAS, gear up provides tutoring, mentoring, academic preparation, and other resources to assist disadvantaged students in gaining access to higher education; and

WHEREAS, gear up provides communities with a holistic, data-driven program aimed at preparing low-income, and minority students for postsecondary education; and

WHEREAS, GEAR UP grantees serve cohorts of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follows students through high school; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania State GEAR UP is located in four Philadelphia high schools including Samuel Fels, Horace Furness, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Overbrook high schools; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia will receive $29.1 million dollars over the next seven (7) years for its GEAR UP program; and

WHEREAS, GEAR UP will host a Capacity Building Workshop in February 2015 in Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, by the Council of the City of Philadelphia, That it hereby acknowledges the work of GEAR UP in increasing the number of students prepared to enter and succeed in higher education.

End