Oklahoma Project FAITH in Student Success

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About the Project
Oklahoma Project FAITH in Student Success is a program designed to help faith and tribal leaders educate their organizations’ members in college preparation and financial aid access.

Project FAITH particularly targets students who underutilize financial aid opportunities, as well as those who may not know how to adequately prepare for college. Oklahoma has many programs to assist students and their parents in preparing and paying for college. However, many times these programs are not used by the people who need them most.

Project FAITH will empower faith and tribal leaders with the training and resources to help create a better understanding of accessing higher education among their members.

Through the free training provided by Project FAITH, Oklahoma faith and tribal leaders will be able to:

Conduct student and parent workshops to educate members on preparing for college and financial aid opportunities.
Help students find answers to their questions about the grades to make and courses to take when preparing for college.
Provide members with a better understanding of the importance of a college education and the value of early preparation.

Who Can Participate?
Project FAITH started training faith-based leaders (youth leaders, lay volunteers, etc.) in the summer of 2004. Training was conducted in Oklahoma City in August and will be held in Tulsa in January 2005. Project FAITH will expand its outreach to include tribal leaders in 2005 and will ultimately work with local colleges and universities to provide the training.

How to Participate

Decide who from your organization will attend the training. You are encouraged to train more than one person.
Fill out and sign the Project FAITH Participation Form.
Attend the training.
After the training, conduct Project FAITH workshops for the students and parents of your organization. Participating organizations are expected to conduct at least one workshop annually for each module grade level (5th-7th, 8th-10th, 11th-12th, and parents). In addition, participating organizations are expected to encourage their members to attend local college preparation events held by colleges and universities.

Materials Provided
Upon completion of the training, participants will receive a Project FAITH tool kit containing step-by-step instructions for conducting preparing for college and financial aid workshops.

Contact
Edra Thrower
Project FAITH Coordinator
Phone: 405.225.9198
Fax: 405.225.9230

Oklahoma Project FAITH is a federally funded program administered by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The project is funded in part by a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant (PR Award #P116B030991). Additional funding is provided by Oklahoma GEAR UP. The U.S. Department of Education awarded Oklahoma with a state GEAR UP grant totaling $20.5 million in August 1999. The grant has been matched by more than $25 million from state and partner resources. With the addition of year six federal funding in 2004, Oklahoma's GEAR UP program has received approximately $25 million in federal funds since 1999. GEAR UP receives 50 percent of total funding from the federal government and 50 percent from other organizations.