Corporate Partners Wachovia Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation Alcoa Mill Products Lancaster Newspapers (The Steinman Foundations) Y&S Candies (Hershey Foods Foundation) Pepperidge Farm, Inc.(Campbell Soup Foundation) PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. High Foundation Tyco Electronics Foundation Armstrong Foundation The Securus Group Fulton Bank Sovereign Bank William Randolph Hearst Foundation
20 Years 20 Success Stories
Gertrudis Sanchez ‘09, Will Redmond, Cameron Powell, a junior, and freshmen Jose Piosado and Erika Stewart.
The Lancaster Partnership Program (LPP), was designed to increase the high school graduation and college participation rates of students enrolled in the School District of Lancaster (SDL).
LPP FACTS • 1993 - First LPP cohort graduated from high school and entered college • 925 students have been through the program • 71% have gone on to higher education— Millersville University accounting for 52% of those students. • Corporate partners have contributed more than $1 million so far.
Supported by corporate partners and foundations, the program targets Lancaster students who have been previously underrepresented in higher education—namely African Americans and Latinos. In the past, students from these groups have had below average high school graduation rates. According to Minor “Will” Redmond, assistant vice president for academic services, who oversees the program, “The program was never intended as a ‘hand out’ but as a ‘helping hand’ with many students rising to the challenge.” Starting in the tenth grade, students in the program are paired with their own LPP mentor. Students are required to sign a contract to formalize their commitment to the program, and parental involvement is also expected. The results prove the program is working. “The program wouldn’t be possible without the commitment of the corporate partners,” said Jerry Eckert, vice president for Millersville
University advancement, who assisted in creating the LPP. LPP students who graduate from J.P.McCaskey High School and enroll at Millersville receive financial assistance with their college expenses from the corporate partners, who also provide summer employment, internships, and opportunities to interview for positions upon graduation from Millersville. Students who have participated in the program admit that, without LPP, they do not know where they would be if they had not taken the path of education. In twenty years, LPP has offered a helping hand and an opportunity for education to hundreds of young people. It has done nothing short of changing lives—not just for those who earned a college degree, their families, future generations and our community. Many of the people are now business executives, educators, counselors, and mentors.
