It takes a community to educate its students, to paraphrase a familiar saying.

When the Scioto Foundation established the UCAN program in 2008, that concept was implied in its full title, the University/College Access Network, designed to help area students plan, prepare and pay for college educations. The innovative UCAN initiative created a network of partners dedicated to providing financial assistance to every Scioto County student who wants to go to college. The initial program participants in the area-wide effort were all 12 Scioto County school districts, the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center, local businesses, committed volunteers and individual donors.

The first participants on board with the program were the Scioto Foundation Board of Directors.

Sallie Schisler, an SF board member at the time, recalls the beginning of the program.

“Years ago, at a regular monthly Foundation meeting, Scioto Foundation Executive Director Kim Cutlip told the board members about an effort in Michigan where the community foundation was committed to guaranteeing a college education to every interested student,” she said. “Board members were intrigued by the concept if a bit overwhelmed by the task. Offering a college education to all Scioto County students was a dream worth pursuing, so the board began to develop strategies to fund what became known as UCAN – you can go to college or pursue higher education.”

“Years of work and lots of meetings later, all the school districts in Scioto County participate in UCAN. A dream come true, to raise the literary rate and keep talented students near home for future work. From an idea to reality, UCAN makes an enormous difference in the lives of Scioto County’s best and brightest,” said Schisler.

When the UCAN concept was first presented to the twelve Scioto County School Districts, the Scioto Foundation staff and board had no idea how many of the schools would want to participate.

Four major UCAN strategies were outlined in the original program objectives. They included endowing school scholarship funds and helping students prepare for college by supporting local school districts in establishing and expanding their Advanced Placement class offerings and college access testing. The plan also called for the creation of a centralized scholarship database for youth from Scioto County and the surrounding area and an annual awareness campaign about UCAN to encourage the growth of a “college-going community.” All four strategies were put into action and have been ongoing with steady progress as the program celebrates 15 years this fall with full participation by the twelve Scioto County Schools Districts and six UCAN Neighbor Schools.

Over the first years of the UCAN program all the Scioto County Schools worked hard to set up and grow their endowments. They created a variety of fundraisers to increase their invested funds. Many of the school systems implemented payroll deductions resulting in numerous different kinds of staff members contributing to their fund’s growth on a regular basis. All the school systems took advantage of other aspects of the UCAN program. Now by the beginning of UCAN”S 15th year, the figures tell of impressive success: the total market value of the invested funds was $2,777,247 at the end of 2021. UCAN scholarship awards totaled $789,910 and 955 students had received UCAN scholarships at that point. New totals will be in soon. All of the school systems are worthy of much praise and congratulations.

Also deserving a lot of credit for the success of the program are the members of the UCAN Advisory Committee, guidance counselors and administrators from each school system who have given their time to attend regular meetings at the Scioto Foundation twice a year, served as contacts for the school staffs, helped with fundraising and communications, volunteered for events like College Night and helped to guide new strategies for the program. A number of school alumni groups have also helped raise funds for the UCAN endowments.

Local businesses have played an important role in developing the UCAN program with steady support for the Scioto Foundation’s UCAN General Fund which provides the important challenge match monies for the schools participating in the program. Early backers were DESCO, OSCO and the Marting’s Foundation and annual contributions to the UCAN General Fund come in through the Scioto Gives campaign. Individual donors – parents, alumni, friends, fans and other school supporters – to each school system’s endowment fund have been absolutely essential to each school’s fund growth and are crucially important to the future growth of the funds and UCAN scholarships.

Sharee Price, Gifted Services Coordinator for the South Central Ohio Educational Services, has provided a steady commitment to the program offering SCOESC’s support and ideas. She expressed her confidence in the UCAN program not long ago when she said, “I truly believe that all of our local superintendents are very appreciative of everything the UCAN program has made available to their districts. I also believe that this program will continue to evolve and grow in whatever way necessary to best serve our students.”

Dr. Wayne Wheeler, who was a Scioto Foundation Board member when the UCAN program was established, offered his good wishes for the future of the program recently when he commented “It is with no small measure of pleasure that I reflect on the opportunity to have had a small role in the adoption of the UCAN program by the Scioto Foundation. The idea of adopting a program that would help every young person in Scioto County with the ability to go to college seemed far beyond the reach of the Foundation, but led by our outstanding Executive Director, Mrs. Kim Cutlip, we gave it a go. The current UCAN program, improving the lives of numerous young people in Scioto County, is the result and I wish it every success for another 15 plus years.”

To learn more about the Scioto Foundation’s UCAN program, contact Patty Tennant, Program Manager – Donor Services or Kim Cutlip, Executive Director, at (740) 354-4612.