[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   TRIBUTE TO BALDWIN-WALLACE COLLEGE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Baldwin-Wallace 
College in Berea, OH, for their innovative program to assist single, 
teen mothers in obtaining a college education. Baldwin-Wallace 
College's commitment to assisting underrepresented populations with 
obtaining a higher education degree dates back to the founding of the 
institution in 1845. In keeping with that tradition, Baldwin-Wallace 
developed the Single Parents Reaching Out for Unassisted Tomorrows, or 
SPROUT, program in 1990 to recruit and retain students from ``at risk'' 
populations, knowing that education is the door to a future free from 
poverty, dependency, and oppression.
  The College created the comprehensive developmental program for 
single parents and their children when it became clear that single 
parents drop out of college when the competing demands of child care, 
academics, and finances become overwhelming. Without a college degree, 
most single parents, primarily women, are unable to break the cycle of 
welfare and subsistence living. Given the availability of campus 
housing, day care, academic tutoring, counseling services, mentoring, 
and educational developmental programming, this cycle can be broken.
  SPROUT provides single parents the opportunity to complete a college 
education consistent with their career and personal goals. Because of 
the continuing need across the State and the Nation for establishing an 
educational environment conducive and supportive of the parenting 
skills, home management skills, personal management demands, and 
financial resource requirements of single parents, the SPROUT program 
can serve as a demonstration project for a more extensive effort at 
developing education programs which offer academic options and 
opportunities encouraging academic and individual development of single 
parents and their children.
  Students are selected to participate in the SPROUT program based on 
their financial need, past academic achievement, academic promise, and 
ability to adapt to community living. They must also be accepted to 
Baldwin-Wallace through the regular admissions program. Each 
participant is expected to complete full-time course work each semester 
while meeting the College's grade point average requirements.
  Current welfare regulations requiring participants to engage in 35 
hours of classroom study, work, educational programming, and 
counseling, or vocational training weekly and limiting participants to 
a total of 36 months force the SPROUT parent to take courses in the 
summer in order to graduate on time. Even in the face of these 
requirements, 70 percent of the students who enter the program will 
graduate. The students work no less than 12 hours per week at work 
study or off-campus jobs.
  Each individual in the program receives career, academic, and 
personal counseling through the developmental programs that SPROUT 
offers including mentoring and internship programs. The College 
provides support services such as tutors, a learning center, a writing 
laboratory, and a computer center to help ensure the success of these 
students. Each mother and her child are provided with on-campus housing 
in a group living environment shared with three other families. 
Baldwin-Wallace College assists each woman with obtaining child care 
and additional living expenses.
  Despite these strict requirements, the SPROUT parents are achieving 
academic success. In fact, the overall grade point average of the 
students in the SPROUT program is over 3.0.
  Mr. Speaker, before I close I would like to tell you the story of one 
young woman who some of you may know. Lar'Mara O'Neal is a shining 
example of the success of the SPROUT program. She transferred to 
Baldwin-Wallace College in January 1998 with a newborn son. After 
graduating from Baldwin-Wallace in 1999, Lar'Mara went on to earn a 
graduate degree from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at 
Case Western Reserve in 2001. She currently lives in Washington with 
her son, Steven, and has a fellowship through the Presidential 
Management Intern (PMI) program. Today, Lar'Mara is a Legislative 
Assistant with Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones. This would not 
have been possible without the opportunity to attend college while 
raising her son through the SPROUT program.
  I would also like to mention my friend, Julie Candela, the director 
of the SPROUT program, and praise her for her dedication and hard work. 
Mr. Speaker, I am not only impressed with Lar'Mara and her achievements 
but with the SPROUT Program because it is an ideal model of a 
successful Welfare-to-Work program.
  Baldwin-Wallace College is dedicated to assisting these young student 
mothers as they face the many challenges on the path to self-
sufficiency, personal responsibility, and academic success. I commend 
both the College and the SPROUT participants for their commitment and 
resolve to assure these young women have the opportunity for a better 
future.

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