The smartest cities make student success a shared mission

Engine-making city in southern Indiana boasts a diesel-powered partnership

Columbus, Ind. - Marwan Wafa thought he knew what lay ahead four years ago, when he was installed as vice chancellor and dean of Indiana University Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC).

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Rust Belt city at Niagara’s foot ‘Says Yes’ to a brighter future

Buffalo, N.Y. - When he heard that every student in Buffalo Public Schools might soon qualify for a no-strings-attached college scholarship, Sam Radford’s reaction was predictable. “No way,” thought Radford, president of the school district’s Parenting Coordinating Council.

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From kindergarten to college campus, SoCal city smooths pupils’ pathways

Santa Ana, Calif. - Time will tell if Shayleene Barrera actually launched a career in science on the morning she arrived for orientation at Santa Ana College — 40 minutes south of Los Angeles. Early indicators certainly point in that direction.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Cities are a lot like people in that no two are alike. Each has its own personality, its own approach and attitude, its own sense of purpose and place. For all of their differences, however, cities are also like people because of what they have in common. All cities — like all people — strive for the same basic things: prosperity, security, a sense that the future holds promise.

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Purdue Tech engineering student Uriel Lopez earns while he learns

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True collaboration requires a special kind of leadership

Links

Rick on the Road - Kinder Caminata 2014 video.
!Adelante! Club at Santa Ana College
The Community Education Coalition is a partnership of education, business, and community leaders in Columbus, Indiana.
Say Yes to Education Buffalo brings together the Buffalo Public School District, the District Parent Coordinating Council, the Buffalo Teachers Federation, the Buffalo Association of Administrators and Supervisors, and the City of Buffalo. Watch their video.

The three stories in this issue of Focus were reported and written by Steve Giegerich. Giegerich, a former education writer for the Associated Press and a onetime journalism instructor at Columbia University, is a staff writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.