FAQs about Outreach
2005 highlights
- Provided 2,807 low-income, first-generation students with monthly counseling and presentations
- Provided 6,224 group and individual participant contacts
- Provided 7,300 adults with career, postsecondary, and financial aid information
questions
What is Outreach?
Why offer Outreach services?
When was the Outreach program established?
Who receives Outreach services?
What services are provided?
Where are services provided?
How are services funded?
Is Outreach involved in other collaborations?
A. Outreach provides most of VSAC's career and postsecondary information and counseling services.
Q. Why offer Outreach services?
A. VSAC's mission is to make sure Vermonters not only have the financial aid they need to pursue education or training beyond high school, but also that they get the information and advice needed to make education or career plans.
Q. When was the Outreach program established?
A. Outreach was created in 1969 to help disadvantaged young people pursue education or training beyond high school. Funded by the Higher Education Act of 1965 as part of President Johnson's "War on Poverty," Talent Search (as it is known nationally) was part of a trio of programs that included Upward Bound and Student Support Services. Both the Outreach Program and the federal TRIO programs have expanded over the years to offer a range of services to students of all ages.
Q. Who receives Outreach services?
A. Outreach serves any Vermonter who would like information about career planning, education and training beyond high school, and the financial aid process, including early college planning. In addition, with the support of federal grants, Outreach offers intensive assistance to middle school students, high school students, and adults who meet income and other criteria. Eligible students are served through Talent Search (grades 6 through 12) and the new GEAR UP program (successor to NEISP, also grades 6 through 12); adults are served through a TRIO program called the Educational Opportunity Center Program.
Q. What services are provided?
General Population: StartNow! workshops for parents of elementary and middle school students help families begin planning for their children's future beyond high school. Workshops for middle school students help them think about the future, enhance their awareness of careers and postsecondary education, and provide information about high school course selection, postsecondary options, and financial aid. Presentations for high school students cover career decision-making, college awareness, and the financial aid process. High school students can also attend VSAC-sponsored college and career fairs and get help with financial aid forms. Adults receive assistance, individually or in groups, with career decision-making, education planning, college selection, and financial aid.
Talent Search: Ongoing individual and group counseling sessions and field trips build students' self-awareness and help them improve decision-making and academic skills, select courses, explore career and college options, and learn about the financial aid process. Participants also visit college campuses, receive academic help and referrals to special programs, and get assistance with college and financial aid applications. Parent involvement is a critical component of the program.
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP): This program, successor to NEISP, is similar to Talent Search, but it targets groups of students in the most needy schools rather than individual students statewide. GEAR UP also provides mentoring services and, for eligible students, a scholarship upon completion of high school.
Educational Opportunity Center Program: As is the case with the general adult population, clients eligible for this program receive assistance with career decision-making, education planning, college selection, and financial aid. Help is provided on an individual basis or through workshops. Among clients served are participants in the state's Reach Up program, which provides welfare-to-work opportunities. Under a contract with the Department of Social Welfare, Outreach provides career and postsecondary planning assistance to all Reach Up clients pursuing higher education.
Q. Where are services provided?
A. Direct service to participants is provided by more than 30 counselors who live in the communities they serve. Services are offered to every middle school and high school. Adult participants are seen at all 12 regional offices of the state Department of Labor (DOL), many of the state's vocational-technical centers, all sites of the Community College of Vermont (CCV), Department of Social Welfare offices, Vocational-Rehabilitation offices, parent-child centers, and correctional facilities. Outreach maintains an administrative office and a library at the VSAC office in Winooski. Library materials are accessible statewide through the Vermont Automated Library System.
A. Services are funded through a combination of federal and private money. Federal grants for the TRIO and GEAR UP programs, funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, expire every three to five years and are renewed following a competitive process. Another federal grant pays for specific services provided clients in the Reach Up program. Outreach also receives funds from DOL to help finance the resource library.
Q. Is Outreach involved in other collaborations?
A. Yes. Outreach works closely with DOL and CCV to serve adults seeking higher education or training. Outreach is also one of six lead partners in Vermont's School-to-Work initiative, which is administered by the Governor's Office and the Department of Education. Funded by a five-year federal grant, the initiative seeks to improve Vermont students' career awareness and preparation so they are better able to compete in a global economy. Outreach's role in the partnership is to assess current career services, provide career development services to students, and train educators and counselors. Outreach also provides materials from the VSAC Resource Library to several DET Career Resource Centers. In Rutland, Outreach has established an Educational Information Center in the DET Career Resource Center.
