The Bronx Educational Alliance ENLACE project is an effort to create two seamless "corridors" to college for Latino 7th-grade students. To help these students graduate from high school and, later, from college, the Alliance is linking the resources of public schools and community partners to increase student/family literacy and leadership development.

The 7th-graders attend IS 183 in Bronx Community School District 7 and MS 125 in District 8. By focusing on these cohorts of students, BEA ENLACE hopes to identify best practices that can be shared with students elsewhere.

Bronx Educational Alliance (BEA) ENLACE will target 240 seventh-grade students and their families. Efforts will focus on these students in middle school and into high school. Led by Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY)-which has a 46 percent Latino undergraduate enrollment-the Alliance includes community organizations, schools, and education agencies that are uniting to focus on Latino education. Key community partners include the Bronx Council on the Arts and ASPIRA of New York.

BEA ENLACE is part of a national initiative that is seeking to increase Latino educational success in high school and college by supporting students at multiple points along the K-16 pathway.

In the past five years, the number of Bronx residents enrolling as freshmen at Bronx Community College or Lehman College has dropped by more than 30 percent. At the high school level, the highest four-year graduation rate among 30 Bronx high schools is 53 percent. The lowest is 25 percent. Further, in 2001 high school seniors will be required to pass math and English exams required by the state Board of Regents for graduation. Educators believe these "high stakes" tests could make a difficult Latino education picture even worse.

The challenge begins in earlier grades. Nearly 9 of 10 Bronx 8th graders scored below grade level in math in 1999, while 3 of 4 Latino 4th graders scored below grade level in English.

In an ENLACE study conducted by partner Fordham University, several key barriers to Latino success emerged. They include unprepared/uncertified teachers; overcrowded schools with resources that are unconnected to Latino culture and community life; unchallenging classes; poorly tracked students; and reliance on one, high-stakes test for graduation. Students and parents also stress the need for increased English-language instruction, while community members and others also feel that dual-language/bilingual programs are critical for success.

There are four key types of activities planned by BEA ENLACE:

1. Provide leadership and other skills to Latino parents in order to engage them fully in their children's education. Latino youth also will participate in leadership activities.

Parents will attend leadership and communication workshops that also will increase their understanding of the NYC school system. Latino college students will serve as role models and tutors for the ENLACE 7th graders. To supplement a GEAR-UP program that is providing computers to students and families, ENLACE will provide 10 hours of advanced computer technology training to parents through Lehman College.

2. Increase student and parent literacy and writing skills through exposure to Latino art and culture and to technology.

A "Literacy Through the Arts" program will include enrichment programs in Latino cultural traditions for both parents and students. Training will include storytelling, folklore, and oral histories. The Bronx Council on the Arts, an ENLACE community partner, will help students write on-line literary journals, poetry, and a play to be produced in conjunction with Lehman College. Through coursework that is enriched by connections to children's homes and cultures, ENLACE plans to increase the number of Latino 8th graders who pass the state English exam. Additionally, parents also will receive training in financial literacy and business skills.

3. Produce "home-grown" teachers who integrate bilingual and special education through the urban teacher education program at Lehman College.

The goal is to produce two groups of 50 teachers who, after doing fieldwork in Bronx school districts, will want to teach there. The effort will seek to recruit more Latino college freshmen into education degrees that lead to teaching careers and more Latino teacher's aides into a degree program that will qualify them for full certification. The program also will showcase teaching practices that are successful with Latino students. In some Bronx school districts, 25 percent of teachers are uncertified.

4. Increase the political will and economic resources of Bronx Latinos.

BEA ENLACE will conduct two yearly community conversations involving student leaders, parents, and community members, in addition to a biannual policy institute that teams community stakeholders with policymakers. One example of an issue to be confronted is CUNY's formal end to its open admissions policy in fall 2001. BEA ENLACE will gauge the resulting impact on Latino students.

BEA ENLACE will work over the next four years. This four-year plan was developed after a year of community dialogues and planning. It is one of 13 projects in the nationwide ENLACE initiative, which includes community partnerships in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Houston Endowment, the ENLACE initiative began full operations in 2000 and is scheduled to run through 2004. The Bronx Educational Alliance was founded in 1991 under the Ford Foundation Urban Partnership Program.

• Bronx borough of New York City-1.2 million residents (43 percent Latino) 29 percent of Bronx Latinos live at or below the poverty level ($7,156 per capita income (1990 figure).
• Fewer Bronx residents are enrolling as freshmen at Bronx Community College or Lehman College (1,223 in 1999). BCC has seen a drop of 32 percent since 1995.
• In 1999, only 17 percent of all Bronx high school seniors passed the math exam; 42 percent passed the English exam.
• In 1999, 89 percent of all Bronx 8th graders scored below grade level in math and 76 percent in English.
• In 1999, 76 percent of Latino 4th graders scored below grade level in English, according to the NYC Board of Education. In 2000, more than 100,000 4th and 8th graders in New York City attended summer school because they did not meet state academic performance standards.

• ASPIRA of New York, Inc.
• Bronx Educational Alliance GEAR-UP Project
• Bronx Community College
• Bronx Community School District 7
• Bronx Community School District 8
• Bronx Council on the Arts
• Bronx High School Superintendency
• Bronx Information Network
• Fordham University
• Lehman College of the City University of New York
  New York State Education Department-New York City Schools and Community Services