EMHI/SCHOOLS

We provide high-quality, cost-effective standardized test prep to allow STEM healthcare degree-seeking entrepreneurs of color to gain access to college merit-based scholarships and funding to complete terminal degrees without student loan debt, which eradicates inter-generational poverty using ed-tech. Our business model GEROTECH incorporates inter-generational programming, blending 65+ Seniors with Gen Z college students, as our human-centered design.  Our solution is virtual, high touch, and low cost. We raise scores 10x the national average at 1/10 of the national cost in only five weeks, a fraction of the 6-month time frame needed by the national brands. 

In the communities we serve, 56% of the 73 million US students aged 18 or under in 2019 needed additional funding to attend college (CNN).   These students could have attended college debt-free with merit-based scholarships had they enrolled with S.C.H.O.O.L.S..  Lack of access to high-quality, cost-effective test prep impedes workforce development and economic stability for entrepreneurs of color servicing the marginalized neighborhoods in which they reside. Student loans affect the credit scores necessary to apply for funding with high debt-to-income ratios. Our model received one of six 2021 Inaugural Wharton Knowledge For Impact Awards for demonstrated impact. https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/for-individuals/all-programs/knowledge-for-impact-award/

The problem of practice is low college and career admission rates with adequate funding facilitating completion due to low standardized test scores.  These low scores necessitate student loan debt for college and career completion. Student loan debt inhibits entrepreneurs of color,  particularly STEM healthcare degree-seeking ones, from advancing their business models due to the inability to secure funding based on personal credit due to high debt-to-income ratios. This loan debt increases critical workforce development needs, for example, credentialing necessary to decrease nursing shrotage. Our solution increases test scores, decreases student loan debt, and facilitates business entrepreneurial growth for students of color from marginalized communities.  Our human-centered model offers focused guidance and professional development from a cadre of experienced 65+ Senior expert professionals who are poised to help build specific functional skills for early entrepreneurs. These skills, such as strategic planning, human resources, process improvement, and research and testing products and services, are essential components for business success. Coaching at the level that we provide would cost thousands of dollars that entrepreneurs who are members of the communities we serve simply could not afford to finance in their early stages of career development.

Our target population is US students aged 18 or under, approximately 73 million. Our target population is students residing in marginalized communities whose families fall under the Federal Poverty Guideline limits in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, especially providing meaningful discourse to parents and students residing in rural municipalities with limited broadband access. In 2019, we partnered with Benedict College (Pre-COVID) to provide ACT Prep services on-site to increase minority career employment for the SOuth Carolin Department of Transportation. We partnered with I Dare U in Georgia in 2020.  In 2021, we expanded our course offerings in the State of Mississippi by partnering with GEAR UP Mississippi of Mississippi State University to include Greenville, McComb, and Meridian School Districts.  Also in 2021, we expanded our Georgia offerings to Griffin -Spalding School District as well.  These expansions allow more rural students to engage in our innovative ed-tech. We've conducted on-site and online webinars and town hall meetings with stakeholders to best understand their needs. Our efforts resulted in online and on-site ACT and SAT test prep courses for all sites, raising college admissions by more than 25%.  All of the admitted Mississippi college students received a $3500 scholarship from GEAR UP Mississippi. Continuous 360-degree feedback and stakeholder monitoring are conducted monthly to disaggregate program evaluation and improvement data.  

Alabama

Georgia

Mississippi

South Carolina

We help launch small businesses, offering each Senior and student who participates in our program the ability to begin their own fee-for-service tutoring company.

Our theory of change is simple. We believe that all 65+ Seniors have valuable business and educational insight to offer and that all Gen Z students have the capability to learn and grow as entrepreneurs.  Therefore, through GEROTECH, we combine the two. We've evaluated the program using the Kellogg (2004) logic model for overall program effectiveness, successfully implementing the program with Coastal Alabama Community College and Missississippi State University.  We track engagement using Remind and our  Google Classroom Learning Management System and track Social-Emotional Learning through polling. Our activities, outputs, and outcomes are tied to the Belle Method of Academic Currency (C) and the Obsidian Principle (c), both developed by our founder, Valencia Belle. Third parties such as Alabama Possible and Wharton have evaluated the logic model's effectiveness. https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/for-individuals/all-programs/knowledge-for-impact-award/

10,000 currently served

50,000 served in 1 year

100,000 served in 5 years

We serve communities of color that are marginalized and rural and fall at or below the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Key decision-makers are local city officials, school boards, and district-level superintendents.  Organizational strategy is influenced by school boards and local city officials, such as mayors. For example, we've received funds from the City Commissioners and Parks and Recreation to increase workforce development through test prep, fostering college and career admissions, for the City of Mobile, Alabama.

The intervention is housed at Bishop State Community College, the Nursing program founded by Ms. Edith Louise Mitchell, the namesake of the EMHI. Therefore, key stakeholders who are aware of the impact of Ms. Mitchell's pioneering work in desegregation and workforce development are empowered to continue her legacy through contextually and locally grounded initiatives in Mobile, Alabama.  Leadership resid within the communities served in all locations, having a vested interest in the program's sustainability and leadership proximity to enhance community engagement. All outputs are guided by leadership proximity to the marginalized they serve.  

We are members of the communities we serve, therefore, trust is easily earned. The founder and her sister have served the local, state, and federal government for over 20 years, and are trusted advisors nationally and internationally in effecting change in marginalized communities. Their father, Donald Belle, was a 42-year seasoned veteran programmer for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in Mobile, Alabama, instilling a love for community outreach, communication, and engagement in both of his daughters.  Mr. Belle serves as an expert advisor to the EMHI.

Our impact goals are as follows: 1) to increase college and career admissions by 25% each calendar year from 2020 -to 2025, 2) to increase the number of our servicing institutions by 2 per year to reach ten colleges and universities by 2025, and 3) to service 100,000 students by 2025. We are set to achieve these goals based on the current trajectory with our logic model implementation. We are poised to scale in 2022 based on the double year-to-year growth during the pandemic. 

Our founder, Valencia Belle, has more than 35 years of experience in entrepreneurship and test prep. Our board member, Anitra Belle-Henderson, has more than 25 years of experience in Government Affairs and Relations with capacity building for community engagement. Thus, the EMHI is uniquely positioned to effect sustainable and meaningful change. Both Valencia and Anitra, who are sisters. were born and live in the community where they launched their ed-tech innovation and currently serve their community of Mobile, Alabama.