Program Description
Communities In Schools administers several College Access programs. They include:
High School ThinkCOLLEGE School-based program which provides staff support to students to prepare for college including campus tours, job shadowing, workshops, summer bridge program and scholarship support.  The ThinkCOLLEGE & Career Center is a community-based information and counseling center providing college advising services to Charlotte-Mecklenburg students.   The Charlotte Scholars Project is a federal TRiO Talent Search grant providing post secondary planning to 600 students from five Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools.  Kids to College, funded by the Sallie Mae Fund, is a seven-session curriculum designed to encourage sixth grade students to plan for college and career.  Activities include workshops, guest speakers and a college campus tour.

Organization History
Communities In Schools, the nation's largest drop-out prevention program began in Charlotte in 1985.  ThinkCOLLEGE was initiated in 1996 and began as an advisement and scholarship program, with staff working in schools to prepare students to apply to college and for financial aid.  Today, Site Coordinators are in 10 Charlotte high schools. In 2001 the ThinkCOLLEGE & Career Center opened in the public library as an outreach initiative to work with all students and families in Mecklenburg County to apply to college and for financial aid.  Kids to College began in 2004 with one middle school and 30 students, now serving eight middle schools and 240 students.  The federal TRiO Talent Search program, the Charlotte Scholars Project, was awarded in 2006, funded to serve 600 students at five high schools.

Partners and Supporters
Partners
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Public Library Charlotte-Mecklenburg

Colleges
UNC-Charlotte
Central Piedmont Community College
Johnson & Wales University
Queens University of Charlotte
Johnson C. Smith University
Carolinas College of Health Sciences
Wingate University 

Supporters
US Department of Education
Sisters of Mercy
Charlotte Merchants Foundation
Staples Foundation
United Way of Central Carolinas
The Dickson Foundation
Harris Teeter
Weyerhaeuser
Food Lion
Duke Energy
Sallie Mae Fund