'Ticket to the World' Riverboat Cruise Benefits University of Cincinnati s 'PASS' Center

The University of Cincinnati’s Partner for Achieving School Success (PASS) will present the inaugural “Education is Your Ticket to the World” BB Riverboat Cruise on May 17. Boarding for the two-hour Ohio River cruise fundraising event begins at 5 p.m. The River Queen will depart at 6 p.m. and will feature three festive levels of ethnic cuisine, music and entertainment spanning diverse destinations around the globe.

Proceeds from the public event will support PASS, a center of UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH), which partners with neighboring organizations to help economically disadvantaged students in the Greater Cincinnati region prepare for, attend and succeed in college.

“Of those inner-city Cincinnati youth who graduate from high school, only 48 percent go on to graduate from college,” said Larry Johnson, dean of CECH. “PASS has allowed UC and CECH to play an active role in mending this troublesome statistic by opening doors for our community’s most disadvantaged students. We fill a gap and provide them with the tools they need to succeed at UC or elsewhere.”

Since its inception in 1999, PASS has helped advance the educational opportunities available to approximately 12,000 low-income, disadvantaged students at UC and across the Tri-State. Alongside more than a dozen community partners, PASS has been at the center of five key university-community outreach programs supporting such population sectors as first-generation college students, foster care children and generally low-income households. Specific programs include:

• The Higher Education Mentoring Initiative (HEMI) provides academic mentoring and support to youth who are emancipating out of the Hamilton County foster care system.
• The Gen-1 Theme House is an initiative promoting academic success of first-generation college students (neither parent graduated from college) who are from low-income backgrounds and enroll as freshmen at UC. Historically, first-generation, low-income students have among the lowest college retention and graduation rates.
• The 21st Century Community Learning Centers is an after-school academic enrichment program at Mt. Washington Elementary and Academy of World Languages. PASS provides structured after-school activities tied to the Cincinnati Public Schools’ curricula.
• Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP) is a federally funded collaborative offering academic support, dropout prevention, college access and awareness and parent engagement and information sessions to more than 4,500 students in Cincinnati Public Schools.
• UC Supplemental Education Services (UCSES) provides out-of-school tutoring to eligible students who have selected UCSES as their tutoring provider. UCSES is working with more than 400 students this year and provides up to 30 hours of targeted tutoring to each child during the academic year.

“Approximately 85 percent of PASS’s operational costs are covered by federally funded dollars, local foundation support and individual gifts. With dwindling support even at that level, the need for additional community contributions becomes even more critical to maintaining the already limited staff and resources that keep our programs afloat,” said PASS’s Director of Development, Dr. Stephanie Cappel. She cites the university’s Proudly Cincinnati campaign, which has raised more than $882 million in private support to advance students’ educations and university initiatives like PASS.

To coincide with the evening’s theme, guests are invited to demonstrate the important role education played in their own success by wearing the colors of their alma mater.  Tickets are $75 or $125 for two and are available through May 10 at http://www.regonline.com/pass2012.

Event hosts include: Faith Daniels, on-air personality, 92.1 WROU; David and Pamela Ginsburg, president/chief executive officer at Downtown Cincinnati Inc.; Michael Johnson, defensive end, Cincinnati Bengals; Jan-Michelle Kearney, owner, The Cincinnati Herald; Thane and Kathleen Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden; Ron and Phyllis McSwain, McSwain Carpet; The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. /U.S. Bank Foundation; Mary Ronan, superintendent, Cincinnati Public Schools; and Greg Vehr, vice president, Governmental Relations & University Communications, University of Cincinnati.