After a small pilot in Newark’s Eagle Academy over the past several years, CARA’s College Bridge Program model will be launching in every high school in the city for the 24-25 academic year. With generous support from the Solon E. Summerfield Foundation and in collaboration with the Newark Board of Education (NBOE), Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC), and Mentor Newark, CARA will be addressing the critical gap in college and career guidance for high school students in Newark by helping to train both school-based staff and college students.

After more than a year of planning with our partners, we were excited to facilitate a full-day meeting at Rutgers University – Newark with NBOE School Counselors to discuss the upcoming work. Each high school will have the opportunity to recruit their own Bridge Coaches for hiring. CARA will create training sessions specific to the New Jersey postsecondary landscape and provide 44 hours of comprehensive training in postsecondary access content for the coaches starting this summer.

CARA’s role extends beyond training the coaches. We will work closely with NCLC to provide professional development for Newark lead counselors and support their supervision of the Bridge Coaches, and participate in meetings to guide data collection and analysis processes in order to build a postsecondary access infrastructure in Newark.

From New York, to Washington State, to now in New Jersey, we’re proud to see CARA’s peer to peer program model being recognized as a proven model in helping school systems create a future where every student has the tools and support they need to achieve their college and career dreams.