Our Focus

We are a 501 (c)(3), non-profit agency, with the mission of increasing access and equity for students and families into higher education. Many students and families do not understand the complexities of the college planning process or how to maximize the opportunities within their respective school district. School counselors are overwhelmed and parents are under educated in the complexities of constructing k-12 student achievement and college preparation plans.

This lack of knowledge is not limited to students from low performing or high poverty schools. The information gap can be as prevalent in seemingly high performing suburban schools and with children from households of well educated parents.

Our focus is to assist all students and families, no matter what their circumstances, to increase their college awareness and college preparedness. We believe that by doing so we can build bridges between students and families across socioeconomic, educational, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

Our Founder/CEO

Our Founder

Mychal Wynn, a first generation college graduate and product of Chicago Public Schools, has firsthand knowledge of the lack of information typically given to, and lack of information typically provided for poor, urban, and children of color. He vividly recalls asking his high school counselor for advice, "Mr. Jones, I want to become a writer. What do I need to do to become a writer?" His high school counselor responded, "Boy, there ain't no jobs for no Negro writers." Now, some 30 years removed from that day, the language currently used to refer to such children is, "AYP, proficiency, and high school graduation." Unlike the language used in suburban and private schools, or when referring to affluent children--"Honors, AP, and Ivy League."

As an author of some 24 published works and consultant to schools and school districts throughout the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda, Mr. Wynn has used his insight, together with current research and student achievement data, to become an advocate for underrepresented students and families. Students and families who frequently fail to fully understand how to navigate their way through their local schools; the importance of monitoring standardized and EOG scores; the importance of entering into the advanced math and foreign language pipelines by middle school; the importance of enrolling into honors and AP classes in high school; the importance of taking advantage of opportunities to enroll into advanced math and science; the importance of taking and then assessing the 11th-grade PSAT; the importance of participating in extracurricular activities, student government, enrichment programs, and in community service; and the importance of engaging in college planning during the primary and middle grades.

Whenever Mr. Wynn speaks to students in elementary, middle, and high schools, the students whom are most often considered to lack motivation, are eager to learn what must be done to prepare themselves for college. Mr. Wynn has also found that parents (particularly low-income and under educated parents), whom are most frequently characterized by teachers as uncaring or failing to support their child's academic achievement, will become partner's in their children's success when presented with commonsense strategies.

Over the years, Mr. Wynn discovered that his college planning series of books (www.rspublishing.com) were more likely to be used by parents and students who already were highly educated about the college admissions and preparation process rather than by parents and students whom the books were intended for. Through our foundation we utilize a number of delivery methods to get the information to those families and students who are the most underrepresented--lunch seminars, sixth- and ninth-grade transition programs, faith-based institutions, Department of Children's Services, middle and high school booster clubs, and through partnerships with local business and other nonprofit organizations.

We believe that the promise of college should not be denied to any student because of race, gender, socioeconomic background, or because their parents are unable to be their advocates due to their own lack of college awareness and lack of understanding of the complexities of the college preparation and admissions process.

Our Programs

2007 SAT Performance

Sharing disaggregate national student achievement, course enrollment, and standardized test performance data; high school graduation exam pass rates; high school graduation rates; college enrollment; and college graduation rates with parents, students, schools, school districts, and organizations as a means of inspiring initiatives for serving underserved students.

Assisting parents and students in understanding the importance of middle-through-high school course scheduling to ensure that students achieve the appropriate levels of college readiness. Parents and students frequently fail to fully understand or to maximize the academic opportunities available within their local school district and local community. Options as honors, pre-AP, AP, and Joint Enrollment are frequently misunderstood by parents and underutilized by students.

Parent Training Session

AP Examinees

Assisting school communities and community agencies in identifying, gathering, and analyzing disaggregate data pertaining to course enrollment, extracurricular activity involvement, enrichment program participation, gifted and talented identification, special education placement, and discipline infractions to ensure access and equity for all student groups.

Is Yale a possibility?

Providing parent training in guiding their children's elementary, middle, and high school educational development and in expanding their advocacy and parent involvement role within their local schools.

Assisting parents, students, and school communities in establishing ACCESS Clubs (Access to College through Collaboration, Excellence, and Student Success) as a student-parent support network for college planning and preparation.

Presenting sixth-grade transition programs for entering middle school students and parents designed to assist students in preparing for middle school success and sensitizing parents to the adolescence needs of middle school students.

Presenting ninth-grade transition programs for entering high school students and parents designed to assist students in preparing for high school success and sensitizing parents to the adolescence needs of high school students.

Assisting parents and students in understanding the importance of talent identification (e.g., music, athletics, art, dance, drama) and leadership skill and character development as part of a comprehensive college preparation strategy.