SoBRO: South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation

August 11, 2009: The Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation (DBAF) announced today that SoBRO will participate in their new College Ready Communities Initiative. The initiative is designed to connect community revitalization and education reform efforts in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. The two-year effort, funded through a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and matching funds from the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, will create collaborative projects among community based organizations that are working to improve high school educational outcomes and support college readiness initiatives in Central Brooklyn, Central Harlem, the South Bronx, and Flushing and Elmhurst, Queens.

“There is too much talent going to waste in our neighborhoods,” said Mr. Gary Hattem, President of the DBAF, at the initiative’s unveiling this morning in Manhattan. “The same entrepreneurial spirit of local residents and organizations that led to the revitalization of so many of our communities now needs to be put to work to build a culture of academic success.” Speakers at the event also included New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein, Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, and student Jeremy Gonzalez.

SoBRO will operate the project out of the Pan American International High School (PAIHS) in the Soundview neighborhood of the South Bronx. SoBRO helped to establish PAIHS in 2008 to serve the needs of late-entry immigrant English language learners who speak Spanish as their native language. PAIHS provides the unique and effective educational approach that international schools have been implementing for over 20 years. Says PAIHS at Monroe principal Bridgit Bye: “The international [schools] have been working together since 1985 to address the specific needs of the immigrant community. The results are the highest English Language Learning and graduation rates in the city.”

DBAF’s College Ready Communities Initiative will allow SoBRO to increase PAIHS students’ chances of success considerably. Approximately 100 second year students will be enrolled each of the program’s two years in courses that help them prepare for the rigors of college preparation and the transition to higher education. “Over the past year PAIHS has proven to be a crucial link between these recently arrived immigrant students and a successful transition to life in the United States,” says Senior Director of Youth Programs at SoBRO Vicki Hirschfeld. “Attending college can prove a challenge even to the best prepared high school students, and the College Ready Communities Initiative makes sure that SoBRO and PAIHS are poised to make a more profound impact on the lives of our students than ever before. For PAIHS students, this program is a big deal.”

For more information about the Deutsche Bank’s commitment to the communities in which they work, visit www.community.db.com . For more information about SoBRO or PAIHS, visit www.sobro.org or contact us directly with the information provided below.

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CONTACT: Ayca Ergeneman, Vice President of Development, (718) 732-7520; aergeneman@sobro.org.

About SoBRO
SoBRO, a not-for-profit community development corporation, has been serving the South Bronx since 1972. SoBRO’s programs include adult education and workforce training, real estate and community development, technical and financial assistance for businesses, and an array of programs for youth. For additional information about SoBRO, call 718 292-3113 or visit www.sobro.org.