MARCY — The State University of New York Polytechnic Institute has been awarded more than $1.4 million from the New York State Department of Education through a Liberty Partnership Program grant to serve hundreds of at-risk students in the region who currently attend grades 5-12 by engaging them in a mixed-model school-based and after school-based effort.

The initiative seeks to facilitate positive outcomes and decrease the chances of students deciding to drop out of school. The program will recruit and select at-risk students to participate; employ family engagement and case management strategies; and engage students in career and educational goal-setting, civic-minded projects, and after school and summer activities.

“On behalf of SUNY Poly, we are grateful that the State of New York Department of Education has provided this grant which will allow us, with our partners, to support students who are most at risk to persevere and finish secondary school,” said SUNY Poly Officer-in-Charge Andrew Russell. “Our faculty and partners are leaders in early intervention programs, and this grant will help SUNY Poly continue to connect with our local communities to provide young students with meaningful options so that they can live up to their full potential and drive the prosperity of communities across Central New York.”

The five-year grant will enable SUNY Poly students to serve as mentors and provide Liberty Partnership Program participants with information about various vocational careers they might choose. Participants include students from the following area school districts: Little Falls, Herkimer, Central Valley, Dolgeville, Frankfort-Schuyler and Mount Markham.

SUNY Poly will work with Mohawk Valley Community College and SUNY Morrisville to sponsor summer career-oriented sessions, such as robotics, health professions, agriculture and computer-oriented camps.

The Liberty Partnerships Program was established in 1988 to address the significantly elevated high school dropout rate among New York’s youth, citing “the failure of many young New Yorkers to complete their secondary education limited their opportunity for a life of fulfillment, prevents them from advancing into postsecondary education and hinders the State’s efforts to provide a well-trained workforce for business and industry in New York.”

To address these concerns, the Liberty Partnerships Program seeks to provide for a continuity of services throughout a student’s progression through secondary school for those students who are identified as at-risk of dropping out.