CAP awards open college doors to 310 low-income high school graduates in Miami-Dade

July 27, 2010 - PRLog -- MIAMI, FL – July 26, 2010 – More than 300 low-income high school graduates will be awarded scholarships to help further their education during The College Assistance Program (CAP) of Miami-Dade County awards banquet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 29, at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Dade Community Foundation administers the CAP scholarship fund, which is allocating more than $400,000 to 310 recipients who have exhausted all other available means of obtaining financial assistance to attend college.

Emmy Award winning television journalist Tara Gilani and Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Trowbridge will emcee the event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. with a Board of Trustees reception. A dinner and awards ceremony will follow in the hotel’s Country Club Ballroom, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables, Fla.

Estanley Baptiste, a Miami Edison honors graduate and Haitian native, will talk about his journey of struggle and hope that resulted in achieving the 2010 Silver Knight Award in English. Baptiste, recently recognized in The Miami Herald for his accomplishments, has been accepted at Miami Dade College and dreams of going to Harvard. Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, will make the keynote address.

Friends of CAP and local donors will present the award checks at the ceremony. Contributions for the fund came from donors including the Community Blood Centers of Florida and The Batchelor Foundation. Altogether this year, CAP will have handed out 500 grant awards for a total of $536,000.

The College Assistance Program is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing scholarships for students facing financial hardship. It collaborates with Miami-Dade County Public schools to provide millions in grants to assist diverse, multicultural, economically disadvantaged high school graduates who have exhausted all other available means of financial assistance, realize the dream of attending college.

More than 10,000 students have received approximately $11 million in grants from CAP since its inception in 1979. The organization was founded by G. Holmes Braddock, the longest serving member of the Miami-Dade County Public School Board, in collaboration with Dade Community Foundation and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Division of Student Services.

For information contact Contact: Deborah A. Montilla
District Director, Division of Student Services
Miami Dade County Public Schools
Tel. (305) 995-7324

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