Wilmington, DE – Building on ongoing efforts in the state to address the addiction epidemic, Governor Markell was joined by White House officials today to announce federal funding to support a new initiative that will partner law enforcement officers and public health officials to address heroin and prescription drug abuse. (Full release below) The announcement comes less than one week after Governor Markell detailed the state’s priorities for the $4.45 million in new resources provided by the Fiscal Year 2016 budget.

Through his budget proposals of the past two years, the Governor has successfully led efforts to expand access to treatment, including through the opening of a new withdrawal management clinic to serve the southern part of the state, and better match withdrawal services to individual needs, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Today’s announcement complements that work.

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Monday, August 17, 2015 CONTACT:
ONDCP Public Affairs: 202-395-6618
Mediainquiry@ondcp.eop.gov

White House Drug Policy Office Funds Delaware High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
New HIDTA County in Delaware Will Be Part of 15 State Partnership on Heroin

Wilmington, DE – Today, Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy, announced federal funding for Delaware as part of a new law enforcement and public health initiative to address heroin and prescription drug abuse. The funding comes through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, to which New Castle County was designated last year by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

$2.5 million will fund the Heroin Response Strategy, an unprecedented partnership among five regional HIDTA programs — Appalachia, New England, Philadelphia/Camden (of which New Castle County is now a member), New York/New Jersey, and Washington/Baltimore — to address the severe heroin threat facing those communities through public health-public safety partnerships across 15 states.

“The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program helps Federal, state, and local authorities to coordinate drug enforcement operations, support prevention efforts and improve public health and safety,” said Director Botticelli.  “The new Heroin Response Strategy demonstrates a strong commitment to address the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic as both a public health and a public safety issue. This Administration will continue to expand community-based efforts to prevent drug use, pursue ‘smart on crime’ approaches to drug enforcement, increase access to treatment, work to reduce overdose deaths, and support the millions of Americans in recovery.”

“While we need to do more to stop the flow of drugs into our cities, suburbs and rural areas, we know we cannot arrest our way out of this health crisis,” said Governor Jack Markell. “In order to truly reduce the number of people and families impacted by addiction, we must convince active users that treatment is available, it does work, and they can recover and thrive. This federal funding will support ongoing efforts in Delaware to address the addiction epidemic and we are grateful for the support of Director Botticelli, along with the tireless advocacy of Delaware’s Congressional delegation.”

“New Castle County is not immune to the heroin epidemic, and this program will help law enforcement combat this problem that affects communities all across the country,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper. “It will take an all-hands-on-deck effort to seek out the root causes and fix them. It is through partnerships with law enforcement, the community, and other cities across the country that real change can happen and this program will help to make that change a reality.”

“The addition of New Castle County to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program strengthens existing efforts in Delaware,” said U.S. Congressman John Carney. “This investment will help provide much-needed resources for us to better address heroin and prescription drug abuse. I appreciate the Administration’s commitment to ending this epidemic, and I look forward to continuing to work together at the local, regional, and federal level to combat drug abuse and strengthen our communities.”

 

Background on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program

Created by Congress in 1988, the HIDTA program serves as a catalyst for coordination among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug trafficking regions of the United States. Law enforcement organizations working within HIDTAs assess drug-trafficking issues and design specific initiatives to decrease the production, transportation, distribution, and chronic use of drugs and money laundering. There are currently 28 HIDTAs located in 48 states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.

Today, the Office of National Drug Control Policy announced a total of $13.4 million in funding for HIDTA programs across the country.

 

Background on the 15-State Heroin Response Strategy:

The Heroin Response Strategy will foster a collaborative network of public health-public safety partnerships to address the heroin/opioid epidemic from multiple perspectives. The Strategy will enhance the efficacy and efficiency of the criminal intelligence process in support of cooperative law enforcement operations. The five HIDTAs will create a 15-state network of experienced, connected law enforcement contacts and leverage these connections and information-gathering capabilities with a strong, complementary, analytical capacity.

The five HIDTAs will select two centrally located Regional Coordinators, one with a public health focus and the other with a public safety focus, who will manage and oversee implementation and operation of the Heroin Response Teams. The Public Health Coordinator will oversee regional reporting of fatal and non-fatal overdose information and issuing of relevant alerts regarding dangerous batches of heroin and other heroin-related threats to health authorities. This will mobilize a rapid public health response to distribute naloxone or expand resources in the affected areas, helping to mitigate the number of overdoses and prevent deaths. The Public Safety Coordinator will oversee execution of public safety goals by ensuring case support is provided where needed and intelligence is being disseminated to relevant law enforcement authorities to enable disruption of the heroin supply.

A heroin and prescription opioid training curriculum will be developed and used to prepare rural and municipal officers and first responders who are inexperienced responding to heroin and prescription opioid-related incidents. To assist communities in coping with this escalating problem, the five HIDTAs will develop Education & Training strategies that will increase awareness of heroin and opiate addiction, create linkages to available prevention and treatment resources in the respective regions, and enable first-responders to know how to report all pertinent lead information developed from seizures and overdose responses.

The Heroin Response Strategy builds upon the successes of the 2014 symposium hosted by the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA.  Each year, the five HIDTAs will host two, two-day State of the Region symposia at a jointly nominated HIDTA.  These symposia will build additional structure within each respective HIDTA region for the attendees to maintain regular contact and continue their public health-public safety partnerships between symposia. The aim will be to facilitate collaboration between public health and public safety partners within and across jurisdictions, sharing best practices, innovative pilots, and identifying new opportunities to leverage resources.

 

Background on the Administration’s National Drug Policy

The Obama Administration’s drug policy treats the national drug challenge as a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue.  This approach is built upon the latest scientific research demonstrating that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain that can be successfully prevented and treated, and from which one can recover.

The Administration has directed Federal agencies to expand community-based efforts to prevent drug use before it begins, empower healthcare workers to intervene early at the first signs of a substance use disorder, expand access to treatment for those who need it, support the millions of Americans in recovery, and pursue “smart on crime” approaches to drug enforcement.

For more information about the Office of National Drug Control Policy, visit: www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp

For information on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, visit: www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/high-intensity-drug-trafficking-areas-program

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Delaware is featured participant at launch of national initiative to achieve better care and smarter spending in health care system

Wilmington, DE – Joined by President Obama, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, as well as representatives from health care providers, insurers, consumer groups, and the business community at the White House today, Governor Markell addressed Delaware’s commitment to transform delivery of health care and to provide a model for the country to pay for quality, rather than quantity, of services.

The Governor spoke at a kick off for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, which aims to accelerate the transformation of the nation’s health care delivery system to one that achieves better care, smarter spending, and healthier people by supporting the adoption of alternative payments models. According to HHS, more than 2,800 individual payers, providers, employers, patients, states, consumer groups, consumers and other partners have registered to participate in the Network.

“Current payment models incentivize hospitalizations and quality of treatment, not initiatives like care management programs designed to keep people out of the hospital,” said Markell. “I believe that is the crux of what we are all trying to change. In Delaware, we have brought together all parts of our health care community to develop a plan to become one of the healthiest states while reducing the growth of health care spending.”

At today’s event, HHS highlighted Delaware’s commitment to shift at least 80 percent of health care spending to payment models that reward quality and efficient care. In addition, as part of the Delaware’s Health Care Innovation Plan, the state is working to ensure every Delawarean has a primary care provider, and give providers the tools and training to thrive under new payment models. The state aims to reduce the growth of healthcare spending by 1-2 percentage points, bringing it more closely in line with growth of the state’s economy.

“Thousands of Delawareans are already benefiting from increased access to quality, affordable health care through the Health Insurance Marketplace and our state’s expanded Medicaid program,” said Secretary Rita Landgraf of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. “But access to care is just one step on the path to healthier communities. Better care and lower costs are other critical components, which is why we’ve embarked on an effort to transform our health care system through the Delaware Health Care Innovation Plan — and why we are excited to participate in the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network.”

— Key elements of the Health Care Learning and Action Network:

The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (“Network”) is being established to provide a forum for public-private partnerships to help the U.S. health care payment system (both private and public) meet or exceed recently established Medicare goals for value-based payments and alternative payment models.

To help drive the health care system towards greater value-based purchasing — rather than continuing to reward volume regardless of quality of care delivered, HHS has set a goal of moving 30 percent of Medicare payments into alternative payment models by the end of 2016 and 50 percent into alternative payment models by the end of 2018. Alternative payment models include models such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), bundled payments, and advanced primary care medical homes. Overall, HHS seeks to have 85 percent of Medicare payments tied to quality or value by 2016 and 90 percent by 2018.

The Network will serve as a forum where payers, providers, employers, purchasers, state partners, consumer groups, individual consumers, and others can discuss how to transition towards alternative payment models that emphasize value.

The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network will perform the following functions:

• Serve as a convening body to facilitate joint implementation of new models of payment and care delivery;
• Identify areas of agreement around movement toward alternative payment models and define how best to report on these new payment models;
• Collaborate to generate evidence, share approaches, and remove barriers;
• Develop common approaches to core issues such as beneficiary attribution, financial models, benchmarking, quality and performance measurement, risk adjustment, and other topics raised for discussion; and
• Create implementation guides for payers, purchasers, providers, and consumers.

Participants will be expected to actively engage in the Network by contributing to workgroups, sharing best practices, and learning from peers. They will also:

• Support national alternative payment model goals for the U.S. health system that match or exceed the Medicare fee-for-service goals (30% alternative payment model penetration by 2016 and 50% by 2018);
• Agree that progress towards national goals should be measured; and
• Work with Network participants to establish standard definitions for alternative payment models

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Wilmington, DE – Governor Markell extended his deepest sympathies to the family of James Brady, former White House Press Secretary, someone the Governor knew and admired over many years.

“My heart goes out to Sarah and the Brady family. I first met Jim in 1979, when we shared a small office while I was serving as an intern to Sen. William Roth in Washington, D.C. Jim was a wonderful person with a great sense of humor. Later in life, I was honored to reconnect with Jim as he and Sarah made their home in Sussex County for many years.  Jim’s grit and determination were always evident.  

“This is a difficult loss, but those close to him can take solace in knowing the legacy he built through his advocacy work will have a lasting impact on our country and will surely inspire future generations.”

Adding statistical clarification:

• 18% of Delaware college-ready students don’t apply to college
• 27% of Delaware college-ready low-income students don’t apply to college

(Wilmington, DE) –  The Governor committed to expanding four college access initiatives statewide in remarks given at a White House Summit today, as he talked about Delaware’s effort to improve college opportunities for young people.  Delaware is the first state to reach out to all college-ready students with information and application fee waivers for low-income students in partnership with the College Board.   The effort is part of Delaware’s overall “Getting to Zero” initiative.

(watch Governor’s remarks)

Governor Markell was the only Governor joining today’s Summit other college and other university presidents and leaders from nonprofits, foundations, state governments and the private sector around the country who joined President Obama and the First Lady. The University of Delaware was among the schools making commitments to improve to college access.  Text of the Governor’s remarks follows as well as the White House Fact Sheet on the event.

TEXT of the Governor’s Remarks –White House College Opportunity Summit

Good morning everybody.  It’s a pleasure to be here.  I want to congratulate Gene and the team for putting this together.  I’m tempted to discard my prepared remarks because I thought the first panel was so outstanding and I would love to engage with them some more.  I want to thank them and I want to thank Mr. Saulsberg for his announcement.  Very excited and we would love to work with you in Delaware on that announcement.  I really appreciate the attention of the First Lady and the President to this initiative and all the energy that they’re putting into it.  It’s great to be with all you leaders from across the country who are here not just to talk about a problem that we all know exists, but also to actually make concrete and measurable commitments toward increasing the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who successfully pursue higher education.

The statistics, as you know, are alarming. We did a recent study in our state, the state of Delaware, and we found that even among college-ready low-income students, 18 percent of them do not apply anywhere. And these are people – I think David Coleman did a great job describing how well we know these students can, in fact, be successful.  Of students that we would thrive – 18 percent don’t apply anywhere.  And often times it’s because they think they can’t afford it or they just don’t have anyone telling them that they can make it happen– that it’s possible for them to go.

The commitments that you are making today are outstanding, they’re necessary and I really do believe that they prove that this initiative is not about rhetoric.  This initiative is really about getting something done, which is what it’s all about.   These commitments set a standard for ambitious, but realistic expectations that should inspire everybody who is in a position to address what is really a serious competitive threat to our country.  I know that your commitments inspire me.

When students do not achieve an education that matches their potential, they obviously lose out on tremendous career opportunities – and we, as a society, lose out – on what is an unbelievable opportunity we all have to unleash the potential of so many young people.

I believe that state and local governments have a great opportunity and responsibility – I know the mayor of San Antonio will be up here in a few minutes – but I think it’s important to have mayors and governors join you in rising to this challenge and I’m here on behalf of governors to offer a path forward. Clearly, the specifics may differ from one state to the next, but we all have the opportunity to do something meaningful on this issue. And when 60 percent of our jobs will require education beyond high school by the end of the decade, we can’t wait to act.  We’re not even close to those numbers today.

In Delaware, we call our initiative “Getting to Zero.” The goal is to have zero college ready students who do not complete the application process and who don’t apply to schools that best suit their needs and talents. In other words, as I mentioned a moment ago, 18 percent of our low-income students who could succeed in college don’t apply.  That’s about 1,000 students from all income levels in Delaware who are college ready but don’t attend.  We want to get that 1,000 students down to zero.  We want to make sure that if you can be successful in college, even if you come from a low-income family, you’re applying.  David’s been very clear you ought to apply to at least four schools as well.

In the fall, we launched a partnership with the College Board to send college-ready low-income seniors information on college affordability and financial aid, materials to help them choose colleges, and application-fee waivers, which he also mentioned have been available for a long time but have been complicated to get.

Our highest-achieving low-income students received a letter signed by all of the Ivy League schools, Stanford, and MIT, congratulating them on their achievements and letting them know that many students attend those institutions at no cost.  I know that the president of Yale is here today and I think some of the others as well.  But I think the president of Yale was very helpful in helping us get this initiative going.

In Delaware, we could effectively identify who the students are that need support because we’ve invested in an excellent world-class data system.  We also provide free school-day, not on a Saturday, but school-day PSAT and SAT testing for every high school student in our state. It gives us fabulous data and I think it’s something that other states should consider.  I thank David for all of his help in making this happen.

We’re proud to be the first to try that on a statewide level. But this initial outreach that we’ve done isn’t enough. Students who have the ability to succeed in college unfortunately fall off the path at every step of the way. They need our support and we need them to pursue this opportunity.

Like in many states, individual schools and districts in Delaware are implementing some terrific supports for their students.  As our commitment to this event, today I’m announcing four initiatives that we will expand statewide to improve college access for our students.

First, every high school in the state will make time for students to fill out their applications in computer labs, and write college essays during English classes.  That’s number one.

 Number two, we already have a pilot program we’ve operated in a few of our districts that assists families with filling out the FAFSA form, individual school aid forms and scholarship applications. We’re going to expand this program.  We’ve only been able to do this because of a tremendous partnership with volunteers from employers and college students throughout our state.  It’s been very, very helpful.

 Third, when our students get into school, they should be recognized – to make them feel good but also to set an example for younger students. Like college football has national signing day, all of our schools should have Acceptance Day during which students celebrate their college decision and we get to celebrate with them.

 Finally, even after they’re admitted, many of our most vulnerable youth still don’t make it to campus for the first day of school. We’re going to follow up throughout the summer with emails, post cards, and phone calls to make sure all of our at risk students stay on track.

 We’re a small state and we clearly have some advantages in carrying out a plan like this, but our goals are absolutely attainable everywhere.

 Larger states can partner with counties, school districts and cities which can shoulder much of the responsibility for executing on the plan. I know many of my fellow governors share the urgency that exists in this room and I ask them to join me in this effort. 

We do have – and you all know because you guys represent it –  we have the greatest system of higher education system in the world and I believe that by working together we will make those institutions – your institutions – accessible for as many of our people as possible. I look forward to seeing the progress that comes out of this and I look forward to working with all of you and, Gene, I attend a lot of conferences like this and I think this is maybe, this is with the first panel and everything else I’ve heard, make this one of the most concrete set of commitments and I’d like to congratulate you and certainly appreciate the support of the President. Thank you all very much.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

Thursday, January 16, 2014

FACT SHEET: The President and First Lady’s Call to Action on College Opportunity

 

The President believes he has a job to do, and every day he is fighting to create more opportunities for working and middle class Americans. And while he will continue to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to move our country forward, the President is committed to partnering with colleges and universities, business leaders, nonprofits and others to do everything he can to support more college opportunities for students across the country.

Today, in response to the President’s call to action, the President and First Lady are joining with leaders in higher education to announce over 100 new commitments to expand college opportunity. To help more students afford and graduate from college with the skills they need, the Administration has already taken action including doubling Federal investments in Pell Grants and college tax credits and reforming student loans.  Last August, the President laid out an ambitious new agenda aimed at improving college value, removing barriers to innovation and competition, and ensuring that student debt remains affordable. As the Administration continues to push for changes that keep college affordable for all students and families, we can and must do more to get more low-income students prepared for college, enrolled in quality institutions, and graduating if we are to achieve our North Star goal of leading the world in the share of college graduates by 2020. Together, the President, the First Lady and these leaders in higher education are taking another step to help ensure that every child, rich or poor, has the opportunity for a quality college education so they can get ahead.

Over 100 New Commitments to Expand College Opportunity: The participants in today’s event were asked not simply to attend an event – but to commit to new action in one of the following areas crucial to college opportunity:

•  Connecting more low-income students to the college that is right for them and ensuring more graduate
• Increasing the pool of students preparing for college through early interventions
• Leveling the playing field in college advising and SAT/ACT test preparation
• Strengthening remediation to help academically underprepared students progress through and complete college

Today, over 100 colleges and universities and 40 organizations are announcing new commitments to action to build on their existing efforts in this area. Together, these actions will serve hundreds of thousands of students across the country.

Improving College Opportunity Is Important to Increasing Economic Mobility and Growing the Economy: Without college, a child born in the bottom quintile has only a 5 percent chance of making it to the top quintile. However, the chance of making it to the top nearly quadruples with a college degree – with a nearly equal chance of making it to the top quintile as staying in the bottom quintile. Yet only 9 percent of those born in the bottom quartile attain a bachelor’s degree by age 25, compared to 54 percent in the top quartile. Improving college success is one of the most powerful tools to increase economic mobility and reduce inequality.

Taking Further Action to Expand College Opportunity: This event is not the culmination of these efforts, but rather the launch of a mobilization by the White House and the Department of Education, which will help share and develop additional evidence on what works and foster new commitments to action from a broader range of colleges and universities, business, nonprofits and other leaders. In 2014, the White House and the Department of Education will work with outside groups to engage in further gatherings, catalyze new and additional commitments, develop a follow-up report on progress and hold a White House convening over the next year.

The President and First Lady’s Call to Action on College Opportunity

As part of the President and First Lady’s national call to action on college opportunity, over 100 college presidents and 40 non-profits, foundations and other organizations are announcing new commitments in the following key areas:

 

1. Connecting more low-income students to the school that is right for them and ensuring more students graduate.  Many low-income students do not apply to or attend schools where they are most likely to succeed, often because they are not fully aware of their options available to them. Building on models that have had success in better matching low-income students to colleges where their outcomes will be best, participants have committed to doing more to enroll low-income students and ensure they matriculate and graduate. Over 80 colleges and universities and 15 organizations are making commitments in this area, with selected examples including:

A Doubling of STEM Posse Partner Institutions: The Posse Foundation is announcing a doubling to 10 of its STEM Posse Partner Institutions – serving, over the next five years, 250 additional students from diverse, urban backgrounds who might otherwise be overlooked, providing a total of $35 million in full-tuition, four-year scholarships, and helping students to complete science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities.

College Board Joining With Member Institutions to Offer Four Free Fee Waivers to Eligible Students for College Applications: The College Board is joining with its member institutions to announce that every income-eligible student who takes the SAT will receive four free fee waivers to apply to college for free.

More than $95 Million in Commitments to Help More Students Complete STEM Degrees: Investments totaling $95 million are being announced today from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute ($65 million over five years) and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust ($30 million over three years) and to help more students complete STEM degrees.

Action By More than 80 Colleges and Universities: Over 80 colleges and universities are – in addition to their efforts in other categories – taking actions like engaging in new efforts to recruit students who might not otherwise attend their university, expanding need-based aid for low-income students, setting new goals for increasing the share of low-income students, committing to additional community college transfers and taking new steps to improve outcomes for low-income students once they arrive on campus.

 

1. Increasing the Pool of Students Preparing for College Through Early Interventions:  Low-income students are less likely to prepare to apply for college by taking recommend courses, visiting college campuses, and taking the SAT or ACT.  Building on models that have had success in getting more students to prepare for college through early interventions, participants have committed to working with elementary, middle, and high schools to encourage college-going and assist with preparation. More than 30 colleges and 12 organizations have made commitments in this area, with selected examples including:

A New $5 Million Effort to Design Pathways to Success for Careers: Deloitte, Darden, Walmart, AT&T, Mutual of America, and the Samberg Family Foundation are committing $5 million over four years to support College Summit, and in particular a partnership called ScholarJob that will help low-income students across America connect getting an education with getting a great career. This year, with an investment from the Bezos Family Foundation, ScholarJob volunteers will partner with College Summit student Peer Leaders to scale the program, equipping more than 100,000 high school students from low-income communities in 10 cities with cutting-edge technology to help them explore careers, and to attend and complete college.

$4.5 Million in New Commitments to Redesigned Schools: The Irvine Foundation and Pacific Gas & Electric are making a combined $4.5 million commitment to support the President’s initiative to redesign high schools to include more real-world learning and business partnerships.

Matching Tens of Thousands of Students With Mentors and Rigorous College-Preparation: iMentor is matching 20,000 new first-generation college students with mentors and Blue Engine is expanding academic preparation in college gateway skills to 10,000 additional students over the next five years

$12.5 Million in New Funding to Support Excellent STEM Teaching: 100kin10, a network formed in response to the President’s call to action to prepare 100,000 excellent STEM teachers over a decade, is announcing an additional $12.5 million in funding with support from JP Morgan Chase, the Overdeck Family Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and the New York State Attorney General.

Efforts by More than 35 Colleges and Universities to Prepare More Students for College: More than 35 colleges and universities are – along with efforts in other categories – taking actions like hosting summer enrichment programs for low-income students; partnering with local high schools to create programs that span high school and link students to college; and encouraging current students or faculty to tutor and interact with low-income high school students

 

1. Leveling the Playing Field in College Advising and Test Preparation. Low-income students are often at a triple disadvantage when it comes to advising and mentorship:  their schools have fewer counselors, they can’t afford extra advising or test prep, and often cannot turn to their parents or peers for college insight. Building on models that have had success in boosting low-income college enrollment, participants have committed to increasing access to mentors and advisors. More than 20 colleges and 16 organizations have made commitments in this area, with selected examples including:

Serving An Additional 80,000 Students Through the National College Advising Corps: The National College Advising Corps is announcing new commitments from partner universities that will provide more than 80,000 students over three years with college counseling that has shown effectiveness in increasing college enrollment.

Offering Additional Resources to School Counselors: The National Association for College Admission Counseling will offer free resources and additional training to school counselors to help guide students and their families on the path to college.

New Effort by Khan Academy to Provide College Advising Support: Khan Academy is developing a new college advising and counseling section, along with new college-prep features that focus students on the specific content they need to be prepared for college math placement tests.

Providing Thousands of Additional Students With College Prep Support: Organizations including College Possible, College Spring, College Track, OneGoal, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) as well as a coalition of groups under the National College Access Network are making commitments to serve thousands of additional students, providing counseling services, high-quality SAT/ACT prep, and other support for students applying to college

New Commitments by More than 20 Colleges To Offer Advice to Students Navigating College Application: More than 20 colleges and universities are – along with efforts in other categories – taking actions to expand summer college preparation programs for low-income students; creating new relationships with high schools to provide advising about college and financial aid; and expanding opportunities for current college students to work in high schools and middle schools to help advise students on college options

 

1. Seeking Breakthroughs in Remedial Education. While increasing college access is critical, we must ensure that low-income students are successful once they get there. Far too many students enter college underprepared to succeed, and remediation needs at four-year institutions are greatest for low-income students. Only one in four students in remedial classes will eventually earn a degree from a community college. An additional 14 percent will transfer to a four-year college without a certificate or degree. But new models are emerging that have the promise of dramatically improving college outcomes for students in need of remediation.  Participants have committed to significantly improving outcomes for academically underprepared students to ensure they succeed in college by strengthening instruction, using technology, better supporting students in remediation, and reducing the need for remediation. More than 20 colleges and universities, 23 states and 10 organizations have made commitments in this area, including:

A New Commitment by 23 States to a Comprehensive Approach to Address Remediation: 23 states supported by Complete College America, have committed to comprehensive approaches to addressing remediation that will help them achieve a significant increase in the number of college students assigned to remediation completing college level math and English their first year, recognizing that most of these students will need additional academic support. Completion of these gateway courses will lead to many more students completing their degrees.

Providing Colleges With Tools And Resources to Serve Academically Underprepared Students: Key organizations are teaming up to ensure that colleges interested in improving their remediation activities have tools and resources they need to successfully serve students who are academically underprepared.  Achieving the Dream, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Jobs for the Future—experts in institutional change, faculty engagement and curriculum reform, and policy development, respectively, are working to create a “Breakthrough Collaborative.” The collaborative will work with willing community colleges, higher education organizations, philanthropy and other stakeholders to help learn together the best ways to implement and improve promising practices that accelerate progression through remediation and gateway courses, especially for those students who are the least college-ready.

In addition to these steps, the Department of Education is taking the following actions to help support low-income students.  This builds on announcements by the Department of Education at the Higher Education “Datapalooza” earlier in the week.

Leveraging Work-Study Jobs to Support Near-Peer Mentoring: To build on promising evidence around the effectiveness of near-peer students as college advisers, the Department of Education will develop and announce in the coming weeks a new effort that would encourage and support institutions to place students into college counseling and mentoring work-study jobs through the Federal Work-Study program. This effort would assist institutions to establish, in partnership with school districts, work-study jobs that will help expand access and strengthen secondary-to-postsecondary transitions by raising awareness about college and financial aid among high school students, as well as provide on-campus work-study mentoring jobs that will help increase postsecondary persistence and completion.

Building the Evidence Base for Early Intervention through GEAR UP: The Department of Education will partner with the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) to support NCCEP’s efforts to develop and evaluate best practices from GEAR UP programs related to college fit and college readiness. In addition, the Department will announce that the approximately $62 million GEAR UP grant competition scheduled for next year will focus on building and promoting the use of successful practices aimed at improving college fit, college readiness, and helping ensure students achieve the necessary milestones that provide a pathway to college success.

Testing the Best Approaches to College Advising and Matching Through Upward Bound:  During 2014-15, the Department of Education will commit to developing and testing a new professional development program for Upward Bound staff that includes tools and resources building on lessons and strategies learned in the field to support college matching and in-person college advising. The tool kit and training are being developed in collaboration with the College Board, ACT, and the Council for Opportunity in Education, and will be designed for use with both Upward Bound staff and high school counselors.

Using FAFSA Completion Information to Support College Going: The Department of Education commits to providing a process for sharing data on Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion with states, so states and school districts can better identify which students have completed their forms and target efforts to increase completion. This initiative would allow the scaling up of successful initiatives that the Department has launched around FAFSA completion in cities like Chicago, San Antonio and Detroit, which raised FAFSA completion rates by more than 30 percent in some cases. This will be implemented formally through agreements between the Department of Education and state student aid agencies in early 2014, which coincides with the beginning of the FAFSA application cycle for academic year 2014-15.

(Wilmington) – Governor Jack Markell is one of eight Governors appointed today by President Obama to serve on a Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience that will advise the Administration on how the Federal Government can respond to the needs of communities dealing with impacts of climate change.    The President signed an Executive Order, Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change.   Below is the Governor’s statement and the White House news release follows.

“I am honored the President has appointed me to this new task force.  Climate change is not some far off problem; it is something we are experiencing now.   For a small state like Delaware, the lowest-lying state in the nation, we are staggeringly vulnerable. We need to have frank conversations about preparing for possible impacts from storms, droughts, and sea level rise.   Recent events have crystallized the importance of this work for a lot of states.   I believe we can strengthen the economy and improve the resiliency of the environment at the same time and I look forward to serving on this new task force.”   ~ Governor Jack Markell

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 1, 2013

 

FACT SHEET: Executive Order on Climate Preparedness

President Obama Establishes a Task Force on Climate

 “We’re going to need to get prepared.  And that’s why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid.  States and cities across the country are already taking it upon themselves to get ready… And we’ll partner with communities seeking help to prepare for droughts and floods, reduce the risk of wildfires, protect the dunes and wetlands that pull double duty as green space and as natural storm barriers.” – President Barack Obama, June 25, 2013

Today, President Obama established a Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience to advise the Administration on how the Federal Government can respond to the needs of communities nationwide that are dealing with the impacts of climate change. The Task Force members include state, local and tribal leaders from across the country who will use their first-hand experiences in building climate preparedness and resilience in their communities to inform their recommendations to the Administration.

The President signed an Executive Order that directs Federal agencies to take a series of steps to make it easier for American communities to strengthen their resilience to extreme weather and prepare for other impacts of climate change.

President Obama has said that we have a moral obligation to our children and future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted or damaged. That is why in June, the President launched a Climate Action Plan to cut carbon pollution, prepare communities for the impacts of climate change, and lead international efforts to address this global challenge. The Climate Action Plan recognizes that even as we act to curb the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, we must also improve our ability to prepare for the climate impacts we are already seeing across the country. Across America, states, cities, and communities are taking steps to protect themselves from extreme weather and other climate impacts by updating building codes, adjusting the way they manage natural resources, investing in more resilient infrastructure, and planning for rapid recovery from damages that nonetheless occur.

The Federal Government has an important role to play in supporting community-based preparedness and resilience efforts by establishing policies and prioritizing investments that promote preparedness, protecting critical infrastructure and public resources, supporting science and research needed to prepare for climate impacts, and ensuring that Federal operations and facilities continue to protect and serve citizens in a changing climate.

State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience

State, local and tribal leaders across the country are already contending with more frequent or severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods, and other impacts of climate change. The Task Force will provide recommendations to the President on removing barriers to resilient investments, modernizing Federal grant and loan programs to better support local efforts, and developing the information and tools they need to prepare.

Task Force members comprise governors, mayors, county officials and tribal leaders, representing a diverse range of communities. The members of the Task Force include:

State Officials:

Governor Neil Abercrombie (HI)

Governor Jerry Brown (CA)

Governor Eddie Calvo (GU)

Governor Jay Inslee (WA)

Governor Jack Markell (DE)

Governor Martin O’Malley (MD)

Governor Pat Quinn (IL)

Governor Peter Shumlin (VT)

Local Officials:

Mayor Ralph Becker (Salt Lake City, UT)

Mayor James Brainard (Carmel, IN)

Commissioner Paula Brooks (Franklin County, OH)

Supervisor Salud Carbajal (Santa Barbara County, CA)

Mayor Frank Cownie (Des Moines, IA)

Mayor Bob Dixson (Greensburg, KS)

Mayor Eric Garcetti (Los Angeles, CA)

Mayor George Heartwell (Grand Rapids, MI)

Mayor Kristin Jacobs (Broward County, FL)

Mayor Kevin Johnson (Sacramento, CA)

Mayor Michael Nutter (Philadelphia, PA)

Mayor Annise Parker (Houston, TX)

Mayor Patsy Parker (Perdido Beach, AL)

Mayor Madeline Rogero (Knoxville, TN)

Mayor Karen Weitkunat (Fort Collins, CO)

Mayor Dawn Zimmer (Hoboken, NJ)

Tribal Officials:

Karen Diver, Chairwoman, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (MN)

Reggie Joule, Mayor, Northwest Arctic Borough (AK)

An Executive Order to Protect Our Communities

The Obama Administration has taken significant steps to strengthen the climate resilience of America’s communities and economy.  More than 30 Federal agencies developed their first-ever Climate Change Adaptation Plans, outlining strategies to protect their operations, programs, and investments to better serve communities and safeguard our public resources in the face of climate change.  In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the Administration has provided resources to rebuild the affected area to be more resilient than before, including support for more climate-resilient roads and infrastructure, and projects that protect drinking water and buffer communities from flooding.  In addition, Federal agencies have partnered with states, cities, tribes, and the private sector to develop strategies to address the impacts of climate change on our freshwater resources, oceans and coasts, and wildlife. Agencies have also built new, data-driven tools to help decision makers and resource managers map and plan for future sea level rise. From Florida to Minnesota, and from Alaska to New York, Federal agencies have partnered with communities to provide funding and technical assistance to address local climate impacts such as sea level rise, flooding, and water scarcity.

To build on this progress, the Executive Order (E.O.) “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change,” signed today directs Federal agencies to:

• Modernize Federal programs to support climate-resilient investments: Agencies will examine their policies and programs and find ways to make it easier for cities and towns to build smarter and stronger. Agencies will identify and remove any barriers to resilience-focused actions and investments– for example, policies that encourage communities to rebuild to past standards after disasters instead of to stronger standards – including through agency grants, technical assistance, and other programs in sectors from transportation and water management to conservation and disaster relief.

• Manage lands and waters for climate preparedness and resilience: America’s natural resources are critical to our Nation’s economy, health and quality of life.  The E.O. directs agencies to identify changes that must be made to land- and water-related policies, programs, and regulations to strengthen the climate resilience of our watersheds, natural resources, and ecosystems, and the communities and economies that depend on them. Federal agencies will also evaluate how to better promote natural storm barriers such as dunes and wetlands, as well as how to protect the carbon sequestration benefits of forests and lands to help reduce the carbon pollution that causes climate change.

• Provide information, data and tools for climate change preparedness and resilience: Scientific data and insights are essential to help communities and businesses better understand and manage the risks associated with extreme weather and other impacts of climate change.  The E.O. instructs Federal agencies to work together and with information users to develop new climate preparedness tools and information that state, local, and private-sector leaders need to make smart decisions.  In keeping with the President’s Open Data initiative, agencies will also make extensive Federal climate data accessible to the public through an easy-to-use online portal.

• Plan for climate change related risk: Recognizing the threat that climate change poses to Federal facilities, operations and programs, the E.O. builds on the first-ever set of Federal agency adaptation plans released earlier this year and directs Federal agencies to develop and implement strategies to evaluate and address their most significant climate change related risks.

To implement these actions, the E.O. establishes an interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, chaired by the White House and composed of more than 25 agencies. To assist in achieving the goals of the E.O., these agencies are directed to consider the recommendations of the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.

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