News
Back to News
Yuma-ABEC Middle School Career Exploration project – a collaborative effort between the Arizona Business and Education Coalition (ABEC), the Yuma County School Superintendent’s office, and various community partners – was recently awarded a $25,000 grant by the Arizona Community Foundation of Yuma.
With the additional funding, the program will be able to further expand its project in Yuma with continued support for a full-time project lead position and provision of relevant supplies, field trips and professional development for middle school teachers whose campuses provide career-based programs.
“This grant demonstrates how big of a collaboration the program is,” said Deb Raeder, ABEC vice president and Middle School Career Exploration Project director.
A localized branch of ABEC, the ABEC-Yuma program aims to help seventh- and eighth-graders have a more seamless transition to high school with a framework that makes relevant connections between academics and “real world” work environments.
Now in its second year, Yuma-ABEC currently operates in seven middle and junior high schools, with 750 participating students from both Crane Elementary School District and Yuma School District One. According to Raeder, the program is currently having conversations with the Somerton and Gadsden Elementary School Districts to possibly expand to their students as well.
“The program is still young and it’s fascinating to see how it’s exploded,” Raeder said. “It’s the largest program we have running in any of our counties. The real reason for our success in Yuma County is due by-and-large to Tom Tyree.”
To read the full article, please click here: https://www.yumasun.com/news/yuma-abec-awarded-grant-of/article_1bae857c-4a26-11ea-87a6-a394f00edd36.html