The College Initiative has found a new downtown home. They’ll celebrate the move next week with an open house at the Brinkley Plaza office at 80 Monroe Ave. The Memphis-based non-profit was formerly operating out of
Start Co.’s co-working space at 88 Union, but with continued staff growth and program expansion, a move was necessary.
The Memphis-based nonprofit provides college prep tools, assistance and ongoing mentorship to students across the Mid-South. Since launching in 2012, the organization has grown to 10 full-time employees who will work from the new location, plus four paid summer interns.
“We’ve built a lot of momentum over the last year,” said Gabriel Fotsing, CEO and Founder of The College Initiative. “The new space and additional staff will allow us to expand programming to include more students here in the Mid-South area, and work toward the development and implementation of rolling out our services and programming to other markets for the upcoming year.”
Next week’s open house will showcase students who are benefitting from The College Iniative’s programs. For the third year in a row, 100 percent of The College Initiative’s graduating seniors were accepted to college. The organization’s seniors were offered over $5 million in scholarships and were accepted to more than 80 universities, including Emory University, Georgia Tech, Rhodes College, Stanford University and more.
For 2016, The College Initiative hopes to serve 1,500 students through its direct programming, and 15,000 students through its outreach programming.
Additionally, The College Initiative is ramping up for an August 2015 launch for its consulting program, which will serve as an ongoing revenue-generator for the organization. Through its consulting arm, The College Initiative will offer aspects of its college application process guidance and services to families and individuals who can afford the full cost of programming.
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