This article first ran in the Denver Post. By Laurie Marano and Debra Crawford.
We know from recent news reports that close to 200,000 children in Colorado are living below the poverty line: That’s less than $20,650 for a family of four.
Time and again evidence has shown that access to education and job training can help people break the cycle of poverty. By learning new skills and broadening their education, everyone has the ability to transcend the conditions into which they’re born, whether facing extreme hardship or physical, cultural or other challenges. Parents of children living beneath the poverty line can get a fair shot at the American dream by improving their earning power.
But making the change is hard. It can be expensive. And people from disadvantaged backgrounds are at greater risk of not graduating from college, for numerous reasons.
Services through federally funded programs of the TRIO Success Center at Colorado Mountain College have provided thousands of Coloradans the support they’ve needed to read the rest of this article