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