Mission Statement

The mission of the Student/Partner Alliance is to provide educational alternatives to financially disadvantaged  young people in New Jersey inner cities by providing scholarships to private high schools. The premise of  the program is that education is the key way for disadvantaged minority students to successfully participate in  American society.

Program Overview

 The objective of the Student/Partner Alliance is to enable inner-city high school students to achieve an excellent high school education and test scores which will enable them to enroll in  college.  There are numerous scholarships available for qualified, disadvantaged college applicants. The problem  is enabling these students to achieve the high school grades and test scores that  qualify them for these opportunities.  

We do this by providing scholarships to inner-city private high schools which have demonstrated success in preparing students for college.  We recruit partners, concerned individuals who believe in the value of education, to make a financial commitment ($1,500 each year, for four years) to a student who wants to succeed. 

Students who demonstrate a desire to be successful and continue their educations beyond high school are accepted into the program.  Priority is given to public school students from families with low incomes or who are relying on public assistance.  Criteria for acceptance is based solely on  financial need and  motivation.

The Student/Partner Alliance provides scholarships to ten private schools in Essex, Hudson and Union counties.  Although all of the schools in the program have a religious affiliation, they were not selected for religious reasons, but rather because they are the only private schools in these inner-city neighborhoods.  Most of the students  want to attend these schools because they provide a better educational experience than the public schools. The schools SPA supports have limited financial resources but use structure, discipline, accountability and encouragement to motivate their student bodies.   SPA schools have consistently high behavioral and academic standards for  their students, and also provide the support and additional help needed to achieve those standards.  All of the schools promote college readiness from freshman year on and provide the guidance and counseling necessary for  the students to reach their academic goals.

Unfortunately, most inner-city youngsters don't have the financial means to attend a private high school.  In addition to helping the students directly through scholarship support,  The Student/Partner Alliance helps ensure the economic viability of our partner schools by enrolling additional students for  those schools not at full capacity.

Population Served

The Student/Partner Alliance has assisted over 1200 students from the greater Newark and Jersey City area since its inception.  The program works closely with the public elementary schools in these communities to make this opportunity is available to students who need assistance.  95% of SPA scholarship recipients  graduated from the high school where they were awarded their SPA scholarship vs. a 35-50% graduation rate in Newark and Jersey City public schools.   Most SPA students who did not graduate  moved out of the area.  98% of our students who have graduated enrolled in college.  Currently, 85% percent of the students are from single parent homes, and family income ranges from $7,000 to $30,000.  75% of the students are black, 20% are Latino and 5% are Asian. There will be 310 students in the program in the 2009-10 school year.

History of the Program
 

The Student/Partner Alliance  was developed informally in the late 1980’s by one individual, Tom Cash.  Initially, Cash sought to assist inner-city students by paying  college tuition expenses.   Many high school students were not being prepared to achieve  the grades and test scores that would qualify them for college scholarships.  At the time, the State of New Jersey had taken over the public school system in Jersey City because of the poor results it was achieving.  Cash decided to  personally provide scholarships for  10 needy youngsters at a private school in Jersey City.  As friends and business associates learned of what he was doing, they began providing scholarships as well.  As more people became interested,   the program was formally incorporated in 1993 as the Student/Partner Alliance with the objective of helping as many inner city high school students as possible.

Two of SPA’s board members have been awarded Points of Light awards by the Points of Light Foundation, with recognition by two United States Presidents.