LANSING – State Representative Richard E. Hammel (D-Mt. Morris Twp.) is praising a plan that will increase access to higher education for thousands of students by giving communities, including ones in Genesee County, a funding mechanism to provide free college tuition for local young people.
"Establishing Promise Zones in our communities will give more students the chance to go to college so they can be prepared to compete for the good-paying jobs of the future," Hammel said. "I especially want to make sure that we are producing a well-trained workforce that will meet the needs of high-tech companies that I and other community leaders are working hard to attract to our area. By increasing access to higher education for our future workers, the Promise Zone plan will increase the success of our students, our businesses and our economic development."
The Michigan Promise Zone Act, which the House passed Dec. 13, will give communities funding mechanisms to enable them to provide graduates of Michigan's K-12 school system with free college tuition to in-state schools.
Modeled after the privately initiated Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools free college tuition at any Michigan university or community college, the Michigan Promise Zone Act would authorize the creation of promise zones in areas that have high rates of poverty and unemployment. Participating communities would have to raise private funds for the first two years of the program. Students must live within a designated Promise Zone to take advantage of this initiative.
In Hammel's area, the following districts would qualify: Beecher Community School District, Westwood Heights Schools, Mt. Morris Consolidated Schools, Genesee School District, Montrose Community Schools, and Clio Area Schools.
"This plan invests state resources only in struggling communities who work hard and prove their commitment to the education of our young people," Hammel said. "The Promise Zone Act will allow our Genesee communities to create the kind of results that the Kalamazoo area has seen, including increased graduation rates and college enrollment, higher property values and economic development."