THE BOB & RENEE PARSONS FOUNDATION ELEVATES THE FUTURE FOR ARIZONA’S DREAMers THROUGH LIFT FOR SUCCESS SCHOLARSHIP GRANT.

PHOENIX, AZ (Jan. 27, 2014) – Elevate Phoenix today announced a $58,000 grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. The Foundation’s grant will provide privately-funded need-based scholarship opportunities for DREAMers, who do not qualify for public scholarship assistance funds, to pursue a college education through Elevate Phoenix’s LIFT for Success Program.

“How we raise and teach our children will impact our entire community,” said Renee Parsons.

“DREAMers can’t change where they came from or how they got here, but they can certainly change where they are going,” entrepreneur and philanthropist Bob Parsons added. “By supporting these children we have the opportunity to give them hope that they too can achieve their American Dream.”

Elevate Phoenix, a unique teacher-mentor program, targets urban youth struggling with poverty, gangs, drugs, violence and dysfunction. By matching students with a dedicated adult role model, who is available to them 24/7, the organization is breaking down barriers and transforming futures. An accredited program, the non-profit provides character, life skills, leadership, and literacy education to 4,500 elementary and high school students in four Phoenix public schools. The program model, founded in 1982 in Denver, Colorado, has served more than 30,000 students and has a 90 percent graduation and 85 percent post-secondary school entry rate, significantly higher than the national average.

Elevate’s Lift for Success college readiness program was established in 2010 to support students’ transition from high school to college.  The program, which now has more than 100 participants, exposes Elevate graduates to the rigors of college by placing them in a high-touch college boot-camp program for the summer. In 2013, the collaborative venture with Gateway Community College, supported by Elevate mentors, had a 100 percent retention rate.

“Elevate Phoenix is a program that changes the lives of kids through the love and devotion of adults who care,” said Elevate Board Member and PGA Tour & Champions Tour Professional Tom Lehman. “I have a passion for these kids, and understand what happens not only in their lives but in the lives of their families and their community when real mentoring takes place. If I have heard a student say it once, I’ve heard it 100 times over the last 3 years – that their ‘entire perspective on life has changed because of Elevate Phoenix.’”

To learn more about Elevate Phoenix visit: www.ElevatePhoenix.org.