The Detroit College Promise
Business Plan
Last revised 5 March 2009
Contact:
Nat Pernick, M.D., Executive Director
30100 Telegraph Road, Suite 408
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Telephone: 248/646-3269
Email: NatPernick@Hotmail.com
Introduction
The Detroit College Promise is a scholarship program, currently at Cody High School, that will eventually be offered to every Detroit Public School (DPS) student. It improves the Detroit Public Schools by encouraging DPS parents and students to plan for a college education, and by encouraging those with college aspirations for their children to repopulate Detroit and attend the Detroit Public Schools. Thus, it serves two important purposes - to transform Detroit into a center of brainpower with a high proportion of college graduates, and to promote economic development for Detroit and the region. We believe this program will be a vital component in making Detroit an exciting place for young professionals to live and work, which ultimately will make Detroit a top ten (in population) U.S. city again. It is modeled on the much lauded Kalamazoo Promise, which has a proven track record of generating hope and excitement for parents and students, increasing public school enrollment and improving the local business climate.
Website
Our website at www.DetroitCollegePromise.org is designed and maintained to contain all information needed by scholarship applicants, parents, donors and members of the public. It contains the current scholarship application and acceptance documents, our business plan, frequently asked questions (FAQ), lists of Donors and Endorsements, information on making a contribution, and organizational news. Our link page (accessed from the Documents page) contains links to relevant articles and references. We update regularly.
Executive Director
The Executive Director of The Detroit College Promise is Nat Pernick, M.D., a pathologist and attorney who started this nonprofit in February 2008. The Detroit College Promise is sponsored by Pernick’s for profit business, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc. Pernick is a third generation Detroiter who served as a Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Services Board during 1988 to 1994. His father, Larry Pernick, of blessed memory, was active in politics as an Oakland County Commissioner for 29 years, through 1997.
Pernick has had careers in computers, law and medicine. In computers, Pernick has worked as a computer programmer / consultant since 1974 for various organizations, including the University of Michigan Hospitals, the National Institutes of Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. As an attorney, Pernick owned his own law practice for over 20 years, focusing on commercial litigation and collections. Since 1990, he has served as a Special Assistant Attorney General, representing the State of Michigan under Attorneys General Frank Kelley, Jennifer Granholm and Mike Cox. Pernick is also a board certified pathologist in anatomic and clinical pathology. In 2001, he started a business involving free online reference textbooks which he wrote for pathologists (PathologyOutlines.com) and dermatologists (DermatologyOutlines.com). The textbooks are continuously updated, and are entirely supported by advertising.
Board of Directors
Brooke Franklin, Project Director, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce
Alvin Levett, Executive Director, University Budget, Eastern Michigan University - retired
Margo Pernick, Executive Director, The Jewish Fund; previously Grant Officer for the Kresge Foundation and on the Executive Staff of the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
David Sabbath, Director of Finance, Garan Lucow Miller, P.C., a Detroit law firm.
Lora Weingarden, Assistant Prosecutor, Wayne County (child abuse section).
Advisory Board
Leslie Andrews, United Negro College Fund, Michigan Area Development Director
Deborah J. Faust, Director of Financial Aid, Lake Superior State University
Diane Fleming, Associate Director of Financial Aid, Client Services, Central Michigan University
Pamela W. Fowler, Executive Director, Office of Financial Aid, University of Michigan
Stanley E. Henderson, Vice Chancellor, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Al Hermsen, Director, Office of Student Financial Aid, Wayne State University
Tyrone Jordan, Executive Assistant to the President for Detroit Outreach, Central Michigan University
Frank McGhee, Program Director, Neighborhood Service Organization's Youth Initiatives Project
Darnishia Slade, Regional Admissions Manager, Michigan Technological University
George Swan, Vice Chancellor, Wayne County Community College District
Cynthia Van Pelt, Interim Director of Financial Aid, Eastern Michigan University
Jennifer Wallace, Outreach Manager, Financial Aid Programs - Michigan Education Trust (State of Michigan)
Angela Wilson, Communities in Schools, Director of Innovation and Enterprise
Relationships with other organizations
Arise Detroit: helping us network with other organizations and publicize our programs.
Coleman A. Young Foundation: setting up a pilot mentoring program for our recipients as they attend college.
Communities in Schools: supplying a member of our Advisory Board, providing general organizational advice, will help our high school students with college preparedness.
Detroit Public Schools: providing us technical details relating to administering the program, helping us publicize the program.
Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce: supplying a member of our Board, helping us make connections with other organizations, helping us negotiate discounted tuition with colleges and universities, helping us promote The Detroit Compact.
Detroit Urban League: We are working with their College Club, which helps prepare high school students for college, including those at our schools.
Michigan’s public colleges and universities: coordinating aspects of the program, setting up accounts to receive donations for our scholarship recipients who attend their schools, supplying members of our Advisory Board, analyzing our program’s impact on the regional economy.
Neighborhood Service Organization's Youth Initiatives Project: identifying youth leaders to publicize and promote our program, providing programs that help young people overcome obstacles (violence, gangs) to educational accomplishment.
Skillman Foundation: We are working with Skillman on improving Cody High School so that all students there will consider college education as the norm, unless they have a credible alternative. We also want to make Cody more desirable, so that its students will feel lucky to be there and will be more motivated to excel.
Summer in the City: Their summer community service programs will be useful experience for our scholarship recipients as they apply to college.
United Negro College Fund: supplying a member of our Advisory Board, assisting us in setting up our scholarship process.
United Way of Southeast Michigan: We are working with United Way on increasing college attendance rates for Cody High School.
Youth Development Commission: acted as fiduciary until we obtained our tax exempt status.
Scholarship information
We began accepting scholarship applications in December 2008 with the current seniors (class of 2009) at Cody High School in Detroit, and now have 130 applications. The Cody staff, students and parents are excited about the program, and even at this early date, teachers believe some students are working harder because they plan to attend college. We are assisting Cody families with filing tax returns (through the Accounting Aid Society) and filling out the FAFSA financial aid forms.
Our mission is to provide scholarships for all Detroit residents enrolled in the Detroit Public Schools to attend Michigan public colleges and universities. Our scholarship philosophy is based on simplicity and inclusiveness. The scholarship application and scholarship acceptance forms (both available on the Documents page) are each only one page long, requiring at most a few minutes to complete. We believe that making the scholarship application as simple as possible will motivate more students to apply to college.
Our philosophy of inclusiveness is illustrated by our simple scholarship requirements. To be eligible for the scholarship, for the Cody graduating classes of 2009 to 2012, students need only enroll at Cody High School and be a Detroit resident continuously from the target date of 1 December 2008 to graduation. For graduating classes beginning in 2013, the target date is the first day of 9th grade. To receive an award, students must be accepted to a Michigan public college or university, and must complete the federal financial aid (FAFSA) form. There are no income requirements, academic requirements or essays.
To continue the scholarship, recipients must demonstrate that they are in good standing at the college or university, that they have successfully completed 12 credit hours in the prior semester, and that they have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher. Students must also update the FAFSA form each year. The scholarship is available for ten years following the student’s graduation from Detroit Public Schools.
We require students to fill out the FAFSA form so that we can fund more students. For the 2009 seniors, we are paying $500 of the balance due for tuition and mandatory fees, if any, after application of federal, state and college grants based on the FAFSA.
Scholarship costs
The annual cost of the program depends on several factors, some of which will change as The Detroit College Promise changes the educational culture in Detroit, and as we raise funds to provide larger awards and cover more schools. One starting point is $6000, the projected average cost for tuition and mandatory fees for scholarship recipients, based on the Kalamazoo Promise experience. This figure is a weighted average of the cost of community colleges, which most recipients attend, and the more expensive universities. This figure is then multiplied by four, totaling $24,000, because each recipient is funded for up to 4 years. To endow this amount in perpetuity, based on a 4% payout, would require $600,000. This is the figure we would need to endow per graduating senior if our program emulated the Kalamazoo Promise precisely.
However, we have modified the scholarship program to require the FAFSA form because most Cody students are eligible for substantial federal, state and college aid, which allows us to leverage our dollars. For example, the maximum federal Pell grant award for 2009-2010 is $5350. Students may also be eligible for State and college grants, based solely on the FAFSA application. Students who received Medicaid may be eligible for Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program, applicable at colleges or universities that provide associate degrees. We also suggest that eligible students apply for the Detroit Compact, which pays the entire balance of tuition and mandatory fees for select schools. Although we will have a better idea of the projected costs per student after our first year, we estimate that financial aid will pay a substantial part, if not all, of the tuition costs for most Cody students.
Over time, we anticipate that due to the success of The Detroit College Promise, the scholarship costs will increase because of these factors that increase the number of students applying to college or that increase the tuition balance after application of grants: (a) the high school graduation rate will increase to 90% or more, (b) the percentage of graduates going to college will increase to 80-90%, (c) more students will move into the Detroit Public Schools from private schools, charter schools or home schooling, (d) more students will move into the City of Detroit to take advantage of the scholarships, (e) family income will increase, causing a reduction in financial aid, (f) students will prepare earlier for college, and will choose to attend more expensive public universities, and (g) college costs will continue to increase.
Expansion of program
We plan to expand the program by one additional high school school each year until we provide scholarships for all DPS high schools. We also plan to increase the amount of scholarship assistance we provide to each student, as funds are available. Finally, we plan to expand our endowment so that it covers an increasing percentage of our annual scholarship costs.
Organizational expenses
The Detroit College Promise currently has NO organizational expenses. This means that 100% of all donations and grants are used for scholarships. The organizational expenses are paid by PathologyOutlines.com, Inc., a for profit corporation owned by Dr. Pernick. This includes staff, rent, utilities, postage, fundraising expenses and other office expenses. These in kind contributions are estimated to total $100,000 per year. In addition, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc. has contributed $30,000 towards the scholarships themselves.
Financial standards
We adhere to the highest standards of financial accountability. Our board has two financial experts who are guiding us in this regard, as do our attorneys and accountant. In addition, we will have annual audits. However, as a practical matter, our finances are simple. All contributions go to our current fund or endowment. The current fund will pay the colleges or universities directly for tuition and mandatory fees, and any refunds will return to the current fund. No money is paid to parents, students, DPS, board members or any other entity. In addition, as indicated above, our organizational expenses are paid by PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
Contributions and grants
We are currently seeking contributions from individuals, businesses and non-profits to increase our award for Cody students, and to allow us to add additional high schools. Contributions of all sizes are welcome. A large number of donors will help convince the business and non-profit community that we have widespread support, and will also make donors feel committed to the program.
Additional information
To encourage and generate excitement about reading among DPS students and parents, our website contains a Books page, which lists the Caldicott and Newberry award winning books. We also plan to list “favorite books” by local celebrities.
For additional information, please contact our Executive Director, Dr. Nat Pernick, at 248/646-0325, or NatPernick@Hotmail.com.