评论
打印
A group of business leaders in Boston today announced plans to expand a college scholarship program to include any eligible Boston high school graduate.
一些波士顿商界领袖今天宣布，他们计划扩充大学奖学金计划，将任何符合条件的波士顿高中毕业生囊括其中。
The business leaders announced plans for a permanent five-million dollar endowment fund,
这些商界领袖宣布计划，设立永久性五百万美元的捐赠基金，
and they also promise to hire any of the students who go on to complete their college educations.
他们还承诺会雇佣任何一个继续完成大学学业的学生。
Andrew Kaffery of member station WBUR has the report.
WBUR成员电台安德鲁·卡法瑞报道。
The Boston business community's involvement in the Boston public school dates back almost twenty years,
波士顿商界参与波士顿公立学校学生建设，已有将近二十年的历史，
from work internships to an endowment program for Boston teachers.
从提供工作实习机会到波士顿教师捐赠计划都有涉及。
Business has pumped more than one million dollars into the public schools.
企业向公立学校的资金投入已超过一百万美元。
Now business leaders say they're ready to make their biggest commitment yet:
现在商界领袖们说，他们已准备好做出迄今为止的最大承诺：
a multi-million dollar scholarship program that will enable the city's poorest kids to go on to college and to jobs afterward.
一个数百万美元的奖学金计划，这个计划将让这座城市最贫穷的孩子也能上得起大学，并在后续实现就业。
The program is called action Center for Educational Services and Scholarships, or ACESS.
该计划被称为教育服务和奖学金行动中心，或ACESS。
According to Daniel Cheever, the President of Boston's Wheelock College,
根据波士顿惠洛克大学校长丹尼尔·戚薇所述，
ACESS is not a blank check for the eligible graduates.
ACESS并不是给予合格毕业生的空白支票。
"First we'll help them get as much aid as they can from other sources,
“首先，我们将帮助他们从其他来源获得尽可能多的资助，
and secondly, we'll provide the last dollar scholarship.
其次，我们将竭尽全力为其提供奖学金。
I should add, of course, they have to qualify for financial aid;
我要补充的是，当然，他们有资格获得财政补助；
that is, we're not handing out money to students who don't need it."
也就是说，我们不会把钱给那些并不需要的学生。”
The average grant is around five hundred dollars and already the program has given one hundred Boston students more than fifty thousand dollars in scholarship money.
补助金平均约为五百美元，而该计划已向一百名波士顿学生发放了奖学金，其金额已超过五万美元。
Other assistance from the program has helped those students raise more than six hundred thousand dollars in additional financial aid.
该项目的其他助力，也已帮助这些学生筹集了六十万美元的资金，作为额外的财政补助。
School officials say this program will help a system where 43% of the students live below the poverty level,
学校官员说这个计划将帮助到这样一个群体，在该群体中43%的学生处于贫困水平以下，
and almost half who enter high school drop out.
高中辍学率几近一半。
Robert Weaver was one Boston high school graduate who could not afford college.
罗伯特·威孚是一名波士顿高中毕业生，本上不起大学。
He's in the ACESS program now and will get a degree in air plane mechanics next year from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.
但现在他参加了ACESS项目，并将于明年获得波士顿文特沃斯理工学院航空力学学位。
" I got the Pale grant and the state scholarship, but there was still a gap.
“我获得了Pale补助金和州奖学金，但还不够。
There was like a twenty-three hundred-dollar gap.
还差2300美元。
Wentworth's total bill was five thousand seven hundred,
文特沃斯的总学费是5700美元，
so I have to fill that amount with working over the summer, my family contribution.
所以我必须在暑假期间打工挣钱，家里也帮忙凑钱。
I paid for my own books, my own tools, things like that.
我自己买书、买工具，还有类似的东西。
But without ACESS I wouldn't be where I am today."
但是如果没有ACESS，我就不会成为现在的我（这些都无从谈起）。”
This program comes at an important time for the city of Boston.
这项计划的启动，正值波士顿市的重要时刻。
Unemployment here is among the lowest in the nation and business leaders say they're having a hard time finding qualified job applicants.
这里的失业率全国最低，商界领袖们说他们现在很难找到合乎标准的求职者。
So the ACESS program is not just good public relations.
所以ACESS计划不仅是良好的公共关系。
Business leaders, like Edward Philips, who is the chairman of the ACESS program, say there's a bit of self-reservation involved.
爱德华·飞利浦是ACESS计划的主席，像他这样的商界领袖，说这个计划也有点为自己留后手的意思。
"Over time, we believe this program will increase the flow of Boston residents into Boston businesses and that, of course, is a self-serving opportunity.
“随着时间的推移，我们相信这个计划将刺激波士顿人更多地进入波士顿企业工作，当然，这是一个服务自己的机会。
If where you are has a supply of qualified people to enter managerial and technical-professional level jobs, that can't be anything but a plus."
如果你所在的地方有合格的人才，进入到管理层和专业技术层工作，那真是再好不过。”
Philips says any scholarship student who finishes college still be given hiring priority over other job applicants by the participating businesses.
飞利浦表示，任何获得ACESS奖学金的大学毕业生，都比其他应聘者享有更为优先的录用权。
College student Robert Weaver says the program has inspired other high school students stay at school. I went back my high school yesterday,
大学生罗伯特·威孚说，这个计划激励了其他高中学生继续学业。昨天我回到了自己的高中，
Brighton High School, and I talked to a senior class, the general assembly, and I was telling them basically what I'm involved in,
布莱顿高中，我和一个高年级学生聊天，在大会上，我基本上告诉了他们，我所参与的计划内容，
and basically, to get yourselves motivated and go look for those ACESS advisers. They're not going to come to you all the time.
基本上，让自己充满动力，去找那些ACESS顾问问问。他们并不总会主动来找你。
You have to get out there and get it if you want to take account for your own life, because no one else is going to do it for you.
如果你想考虑你自己的生活，你就得走出去，获得它，因为没有人会为你做这件事。
And that really pumped them up, and now that they're aware, and they know that ACESS advisers and there, things will be a lot easier for them."
这真的让他们兴奋起来，现在他们意识到了，他们认识了ACESS顾问，在那里事情对于他们来说，将会容易得多。”
The business group is in the middle of a five-million-dollar fund drive.
该商业集团正在推动五百万美元的资金。
Two million dollars has already been collected.
现在已经筹集到了二百万美元。
Thirty-two of Boston's most influential corporations have already joined in, with twenty more soon to follow.
波士顿最有影响力的公司中已有三十二家加入，另外二十多家也即将加入。
The program has drawn the praise of US Education Secretary William Bennett, who predicted it will become a national model.
这项计划受到了美国教育部长威廉·贝内特的赞扬，他预测这项计划将成为全国的典范。
For National Public Radio, I'm Andrew Kaffery in Boston.
全国公共广播电台，我是安德鲁·卡法瑞，波士顿报道。
