LOCAL

2020 Excelsior finalist: Rockford Promise clears path to college

Corina Curry
Rockford Register Star
Alondra Torres, seen here on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, at Rockford University, is a scholar and mentor coordinator for Rockford Promise. Rockford Promise is a finalist for the Rockford Register Star's 2020 Excelsior Award. The award has been given each year since 1979 to an organization that exemplifies community service and excellence and works to make a difference in the Rock River Valley.

The Excelsior Award has been given each year since 1979 to an organization that exemplifies community service and excellence, and that works to make a difference in the Rock River Valley. Rockford Promise is an Excelsior finalist.

Organization: Rockford Promise

Address: 1643 N. Alpine Road, Suite 104, No. 102, Rockford. (It’s a post office box at the Postal Shoppe at Edgebrook.)

Phone: 815-627-0491

Alondra Torres is a scholar and mentor coordinator for Rockford Promise. Rockford Promise is a finalist for the Rockford Register Star's 2020 Excelsior Award, given each year since 1979 to an organization that exemplifies community service and excellence and works to make a difference in the Rock River Valley.

Total staff: 2.5, an executive director, scholar and mentor coordinator, and part-time administrative assistant.

Annual budget: $370,959; $312,000 reserved for scholarships, $204,000 paid out. In 2020, Rockford Promise awarded scholarship funds to five students to attend Rockford University and 24 students to attend Rock Valley College.

Mission: Rockford Promise is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) location-based scholarship program that offers full-tuition scholarships to deserving graduates of Rockford Public Schools. Modeled after Promise programs around the nation, the goal is to increase educational attainment in our community while providing a powerful economic incentive for residents and businesses to locate in the Rockford region.

What the nominator said: Awarded 98 full-tuition college scholarships for Rockford Public Schools students. Most are low-income, first-generation college students. Study shows $131.81 local economic impact for every $1 invested. Promise programs are a key component in creating a college-going mindset for children in our community. Hired first full-time paid executive director this summer, as well as a scholar and mentor coordinator, a major milestone in a nonprofit's growth trajectory. Organization has grown from an exciting idea in 2006 to a committed philanthropic group offering $31,500 in partial scholarships to an organization that has 76 active Promise scholars, 11 Promise graduates, 92 mentor volunteers and a host of community supporters who have provided over $1 million in financial support. — Elaine Breck, former Rockford Promise board president

Responses below by former board President Elaine Breck:

Rockford Promise has changed a lot as an organization in the past year. Tell us about those changes and the new faces at Rockford Promise.

2020 has been a year of tremendous growth for Rockford Promise.

Until July of this year, Rockford Promise had been relying on Elaine Breck, the board president and volunteer executive director, its all-volunteer board of directors and part-time executive assistant to manage the organization, raise funds, select scholarship recipients, recruit and train mentors and monitor scholar performance.

Alondra Torres, a 2016 Rockford University Promise Scholar who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rockford University in May 2020, was hired in July to take on the role of scholar and mentor coordinator.

In August, Tasha Davis was hired as Rockford Promise’s first executive director. As a community college educator, Davis brings a strong background in business and mentoring to the organization. 

More:Rockford Promise’s new executive director exemplifies its mission

They joined Kaylene Groh, the organization's administrative assistant, who is well-known in Rockford through her work in finance and grant writing.

The addition of two full-time staff during the summer placed Rockford Promise in the position to plan for and manage the distribution of the $1.5M committed by the city of Rockford for the Rockford Promise NIU scholarship.

Why is Rockford Promise such an important effort for a community like Rockford?

Education is one of the most valuable, reliable and long-term investments a community can make. A Promise program demonstrates a community’s commitment and willingness to invest in the education and achievement of its youth, and in turn, the long-term economic viability of its region.

It is an investment in our community's human capital and human potential. Communities with high levels of post-secondary education or training among its residents are the most economically viable in our nation.

Where do you see Rockford Promise in the next five years?

2020 saw a huge leap forward toward Rockford Promise’s vision of offering full-tuition scholarships for post-secondary education to all Rockford Public Schools graduates because of the city’s commitment to fund the Rockford Promise NIU scholarship.

More:Rockford Promise scholarships could lure higher wage earners to city, public schools

This is an amazing opportunity for students, who live within the city limits and achieve a certain GPA, and for the city as a whole in terms of economic growth and development.

In five years, my hope is that from preschool through high school every Rockford Public Schools student, regardless of race, socioeconomic or immigration status, will have full confidence that upon graduation from high school they will be fully prepared to tackle the demands of post-secondary education or training and that education or training will be financially accessible because of the Rockford Promise scholarship and mentoring program.

Corina Curry: ccurry@rrstar.com; @corinacurry

About the award

The Excelsior Award, established by the Rockford Register Star in 1979, honors an organization or institution whose work has a positive impact on life in the Rock River Valley. The winning organization receives a plaque and $500.