Monday, July 26, 2021

Beech Brook is teaming up with two groundbreaking organizations, College Now and Say Yes Cleveland, to provide their students with the mental health support they need to succeed in higher education.

College Now was the first organization of its kind in the United States. Since then, it has become the largest in Ohio and remains one of the largest in the nation, serving as a model for other organizations around the country. Its mission is to increase post-secondary educational attainment through college and career access advising, financial aid counseling, and scholarship and retention services.

The organization’s teams of college access and financial aid experts currently work in more than 80 Greater Cleveland schools, creating a “college-going” culture for students and their families. Their reach has extended to more than 29,000 students and adult learners, many of whom are low-income and first-generation college students.

The College Now Mentoring Program plays another important role for these students while they are in the program by connecting them with volunteer mentors throughout their education.

Say Yes Cleveland was established in 2019 as the nation’s fourth chapter of Say Yes to Education. Its goals are to increase education levels of Cleveland residents; boost and retain population in the city of Cleveland; improve college access for middle- and low-income families in Cleveland; and spur economic growth and expansion in the region. Say Yes scholarship students must be Cleveland residents who attend a CMSD or partner charter school from 9th-12th grade.

Both organizations discovered, however, that even with scholarships, financial aid, advisors and mentors, some students needed additional mental health support once they entered their post-secondary education.

That’s why they turned to Beech Brook, widely known for its longstanding relationship with Cleveland Schools and reputation for high quality services and outcomes.

Through this partnership, which will be launched in the coming academic year, scholarship students who need mental health services will be referred for therapy and case management to connect them to resources at their colleges or in their communities. Beech Brook will be the exclusive provider for this program which will be delivered virtually to students in Ohio’s state and private colleges.