TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Additional funding for the partnership between The University of Alabama and Holt High School in Tuscaloosa, to be announced Wednesday, Nov. 13, will bring their total funding to nearly $2 million dollars.

The grant announcement and media availability will be held Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 3:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Holt High School during one of the school’s tutoring sessions.

UA, along with the Tuscaloosa Family Resource Center, has been awarded a $220,000 grant by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, to establish a Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) at Holt High. It will be used to target the 450 7th-9th graders at Holt by providing one-on-one mentoring and family outreach.

The JUMP program will be conducted in cooperation with the GEAR-UP program already in existence at Holt. Also conducted by UA, GEAR-UP is in its third year of a $1.6 million federal grant to provide students and their families with comprehensive support services to prepare for college. Among the programs and events implemented are an after-school tutoring program, recognition ceremonies for Gear-Up students, school enhancement days to help beautify the campus, field trips, college prep workshops, summer camp and theatre workshops.

Those scheduled to attend the grant announcement will be Elva Bradley, Gear-Up project director and UA director of center for teaching and learning; Cliff Booth, principal of Holt High School; Doug Backman, UA director of sponsored programs; Teresa Costanzo, director of the Tuscaloosa Family Resource Center; as well as, Holt High parents and students currently participating in the Gear-Up program.

For more information and/or to confirm attendance, contact Suzanne Dowling in media relations at 205/348-8324 or sdowling@ur.ua.edu.