KEY OUTCOMES AND SUCCESS INDICATORS Fall 2014 to Fall 2016:
• 80% of the students completing the Passport Community-Based Program will enroll in college, and graduate within 5 years of enrollment.

Our goal is to double the college completion rate (102%) for as many as 1,100 first-generation youth attending as many as 8 BPS non-exam high schools by the Fall of 2016. We anticipate the following specific outcomes towards that goal:

· Launch Passport Scholars School-Based cohorts in 8 non-exam BPS high schools by the Fall of 2016 (Passport is currently in 6);

· Continue to serve this cohort beyond their graduation from high school and until they successfully complete college;

· Serve 1,074 first-generation students by Fall 2016;

· See 693 of them enroll in and complete college within 5 years;

· Increase the expected five-year college completion rate for this cohort by 102%.

Data gathered from all of our schools remains critical for honing Passport’s effectiveness as a useful tool in the BPS setting. During the academic year, school officials and Passport staff measure Passport's impact using academic and attendance progress reports, teacher feedback on behavior and attitude, student and parent/guardian observations, and students' self-assessment. As a government grant recipient, the Boston HERC keeps detailed demographic data on each of our BPS Passport students, including ethnicity, gender, income status, what Boston neighborhoods they reside in, and what percentage live in public housing. Beyond high school, into college students who complete the Passport Program will receive quarterly follow-up by a Passport Alumni Coordinator (employing a network of Passport Coaches, Passport college graduates, and community-based resources) until the former Passport students complete their journey through college.

Currently only 32% of BPS black and Latino students, graduating from BPS non-exam schools, are completing their education and graduating from college within seven years. (Boston Indicators Report, Boston Foundation 2012). In contrast, 87% of the first-generation students who go on to college from Passport since the inception of the program in 2004 have graduated within 5-years of enrollment – 82% of students who enrolled in Passport have completed the program, and gone on to college. Nearly all Passport students (90%) are low-income, qualifying for free or reduced lunch; nearly all (90%) are first-generation to college. In the words of one recent Passport graduate: “They helped me find my place and fit into a world I knew nothing about. Their Coaches made me believe I could attend college. Now I do.”

Samuel Acevedo is the founding Executive Director of the Boston Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) and has led the organization’s growth and strategic direction for nearly 20 years. Sam is one of the founding Co-Chairs of the Boston School Committee’s Opportunity and Achievement Gap Task Force – in that capacity, Sam authored the Preamble to the Policy, as well as the original language of the six Revised Policy Goals. Previously, Sam had served on the BPS Superintendent Search Committee that paved the way for the selection of former Superintendent Dr. Tommy Chang. Both roles have required working in close proximity with the Boston School Committee, the Mayor’s Office, school leaders, parents, and other BPS stakeholders. In October 2014, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh also named Sam as one of the founding members of the Education Sub-Committee to the City of Boston’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative to narrow the Achievement Gap afflicting the City’s black and Latino young men.

Sam has a Bachelor’s Degree from Stetson University (1985); and a J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law School (1993). Prior to his current role, Sam served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel litigating juvenile delinquency cases in New York City’s Family Court until joining the staff of Congregación León de Judá in 1999.

Sam also serves on the board of the Ten Point Coalition, Boston Trinity Academy, and the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Center for Urban Ministry and Education (CUME). He and his wife, Marina, were married in July of 2001.

2017 HERC Reviewed Financials

2016 HERC Reviewed Financials

2015 HERC Reviewed Financials

2014 HERC Reviewed Financials

2013 HERC Reviewed Financials

2012 HERC Reviewed Financials

2011 HERC Reviewed Financials

IRS Letter of Determination