The Kalamazoo Promise

Have you heard of this thing? This Kalamazoo Promise?

I hadn't until I stumbled upon this article recently.

As described in Wikipedia,

"The Kalamazoo Promise is a pledge by a group of anonymous donors to pay up to 100 percent of tuition at any of Michigan's state colleges or universities for graduates of the public high schools of [the city of ] Kalamazoo, Michigan."

What it boils down to is that if you live in the city of Kalamazoo and graduate from high school, your tuition will be paid for to attend community college or university anywhere in the state of Michigan.

The "Promise" was launched in 2005 and, generally speaking, has generated positive results.

The way I see it, young people in Kalamazoo now can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is something waiting for them if they can bust their butts and graduate.

I couldn't help but think of our little organization while reading about this thing.

Why?

BECA receives criticism from time to time for restricting the opportunities it offers to only high school graduates. "Why only high school grads?" . . . and the line of questioning goes from there.

From a Primary School Where BECA Students Volunteered in 2011

Most of the time, my response has been to shrug my shoulders and thank them for their opinion.

Deep inside I felt that there was a good reason, but that I hadn't come up with it yet.

Maybe this is it!

Maybe BECA one day will motivate a few families in the Nicaraguan countryside to support, urge, and cajol their children into finishing high school.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful unintended positive consequence of the work we try to do down here?

Yeah, I know, it sounds kinda dreamy.

But I'm going to keep thinking about this so I can stop shrugging my shoulders.

I promise.