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The New World Foundation and Marga Incorporated, over the last several years, have been envisioning a widespread partnership that can provide numerous young people from vulnerable backgrounds access to higher education and training to work in community based organizations simultaneously. This Civic Opportunity Initiative Network (COIN) would join institutions of higher education, community based organizations, and school districts together in ensuring that large, nationwide cohorts of high school juniors would embark on a journey that would take them through the remainder of their high school years and into an undergraduate education at a participating institution of higher education at no cost. Concurrently, these cohorts would work as interns in community based organizations. Young people in this program would be shown a pathway to high school and college graduation, allowing them to visualize a successful educational future. They also would gain exposure to working in community organizations, helping them imagine careers in community service and the nonprofit sector.
Marga has been helping design the components of COIN since New World brought it to our attention in 2001. Since that time, New World’s President, Colin Greer, secured the resources to ensure that the program could be available to select cohorts of young people at no cost to them. Seven years later, the effort is position to launch in 2009. New World has organized a network of its community based grantees to be partnering organizations in the network. Marga is mobilizing a group of willing institutions of higher education to join the network as well. Partnerships with schools and youth programs are being forged as well.
We will continue to report on the progress of this important and exciting effort as the extensive work required for COIN’s launching continues.
