This week, the Herald met with Patricia Melton, PC ’83, executive director of New Haven Promise (NHP), a non-profit dedicated to encouraging New Haven high school students to pursue a college education within Connecticut. By pledging to equip scholars with financial assistance, mentorship, and career-internship opportunities, New Haven Promise has incentivized these students to approach higher education with a fresh lens.

YH STAFF: How did New Haven Promise start up?

Patricia Melton: Well, it’s based on the model of a Promise program, the very first promise program, which was started in Kalamazoo. The mayor of New Haven, the superintendent, the President of Yale Rick Levin (GRD ’74), and Will Ginsberg from the Community Foundation — they were all interested in how to strengthen the public schools and the city. The whole premise of Promise is to incentivize parents and students to work really hard, to want to be dedicated to the city by living in the city, and to attend public schools in the city. For that dedication and commitment to strengthening the city and the school district, students get a tuition benefit to attend college in-state. The program was launched in 2010.

YH: How do students qualify for NHP?

PM: Students have to get a 3.0 GPA in high school, do 40 hours of community service, and have good attendance. If they do those things, and attend an in-state institution, they could have up to full tuition [covered]. And it’s a sliding scale based on how long they’ve been in the city.

YH: Where does New Haven Promise get its funding from?

PM: Well, our funding has come from primarily our anchor institutions: Yale covers the scholarship dollars, which is the largest amount at this point in time. But our program activities, for instance — creating the college-going culture, financial aid workshops, as well as following students through college — have a couple of really big donors big donors: Yale-New Haven Hospital, and the Community Foundation. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven has been a huge supporter and anchor of our programming. We did have some start-up funds from Wells Fargo as well.

YH: Besides the ongoing scholarship, how does NHP support Promise scholars once they are in college?

PM: We really follow them [through] college. We have what’s called an ambassador program, where we identify scholars who help create a community on our various campuses. We work very closely with our partner institutions to support them while they’re in college. 80 percent of our students are low-income, first generation to college, under-represented minorities — so it’s very important that we work with programming [within college] that already exists to make sure that folks are accessing those resources. We [also] have a very robust, and paid, internship program that we’ve done — we’re actually going into our sixth year of that — and we’ve probably placed close to 350, almost 400 scholars in paid internships.

YH: I understand that the total amount given in a Promise scholarship depends on how long you’ve lived in New Haven. Why is that?

PM: Because [NHP] is really an economic development program, so it’s really focused on a parent’s commitment, and family’s commitment, to living in the city. So, for folks who have been here all along, they get the highest amount of the benefit. And that is pretty much the defining feature of a lot of Promise programs. And when we really look at it, over the eight years we’ve been in existence, New Haven Public Schools have seen an increase in both enrollment and graduation rates. Last year and this year, the schools have been at a 50 year high in terms of enrollment.

YH: Has there been any consideration of expanding the program to the areas beyond the city limits?

PM: [NHP] was something that was set up by the city to really strengthen the city of New Haven. There is a Promise program that started in Hartford a couple of years ago, and I think there is a Promise program that’s starting up in Bridgeport. I think the barrier is that folks are gonna have to figure out how to fund their Promise program. And so we do give out free advice on what’s worked here. Because even though we’ve certainly [helped students pay] out millions [in tuition bills], most of the money really comes from the federal aid, like the Pell Grant. A huge percent of our kids are low-income and they qualify for federal aid. So [New Haven] Promise is really an incentive that grabs the imagination of families who would turn down money [like loans] that students really need. What we tell them is: Promise makes college affordable, not free.

Unfortunately, when I first came, a lot of people misunderstood and thought it paid for a full-ride. I had a lot of angry parents at me in that first year. So we had to get more precise. Students still need to apply for other scholarships — for other merit-based aid, need-based aid — and then with all of that we are able to significantly decrease the amount of debt that students have. For instance, at University of Connecticut (UConn), a good percentage of the last couple of classes are coming out with no debt. They’re turning down all of their loans. But that’s not just not from Promise. UConn has added and committed additional scholarship dollars for every Promise scholar that comes to them. And a number of other institutions are starting to do the same.

YH: You went to Yale as the first person from your family to go to college — what was your experience here like?

PM: Well, I would say it was really difficult. I was an athlete, so that has its own challenges [and] demands that you have an intensive schedule. As a track athlete, I was competing year round. When I came I was also an independent student, meaning I did not have any financial support. So there were policies in place that made it challenging every year, like being on bursar hold because of the expected individual contribution. And of course, I didn’t have that money. But, I must say that I had support from my track coach and community — but it was still challenging. I can say today it’s a very different place. Yale has a lot of support [systems] in place now.

YH: Is there any advice you’d give to other first generation Promise scholars who come to Yale on how to succeed here?

PM: Absolutely. I participate in 1stGenYale. It’s been a group for a couple of years now, so I’m heavily involved with that organization, which is an alumni group. I’ve also been involved with the Yale Club of New Haven [and] the Yale Black Alumni Association, so I’m constantly giving advice. Now the advice that I give them (I’ve been talking about my involvement) is to take advantage of everything that’s here, to take advantage of the resources. Yale was difficult for me because I was very shy, I had come from a very small school, and I just didn’t take advantage of the resources that I could have taken advantage of. They were there, but I was too shy to even access those things. And so my advice is always to connect: you can develop your [own] small community. It’s really important to be in a place with people who look like you. Go to the Afro-Am Center. Go to La Casa. There’s just everything. And there are a lot of activities that bring first-gen students together with first-gen alums to share their stories. I think that’s very helpful as well.

YH: Are there any challenges New Haven Promise is facing right now? What is the next goal for New Haven Promise?

PM: We’ve just had very strong growth. And success is wonderful, but you have to always build your infrastructure to keep up with the growth. I’d say that’s the biggest challenge — that we’re successful. With success comes a lot of work. We’re looking at ways that we form new partnerships to deepen our work. Because of our success, a lot of other Promise programs and cities would like for us to share our practice. So, we are now working on a mini conference where we can bring individuals here and tell our story. I would have to say we’re one of the most successful Promise programs in the country given our impact. And we don’t spend the most money. We’re kind of on the small end in terms of the amount of money that we spend, but we’ve had a pretty large impact for the investment that we’ve made. And I think that’s because we’ve been quite strategic: we use technology, we use social media, we have great partnerships, and we have wonderful collaborators and really great leadership here. And I think all those things have helped make this the success that it is. Many other cities are struggling and thinking, “What can we do? Do we need to raise a hundred million dollars?” No, you don’t. You can do it with a lot less. Because Promise is an incentive, it really gets people motivated and energized so that everybody’s rowing in the right direction — rowing together. And through that, you can get so much more done. And I would say that’s pretty much been our mantra, and I think our results reinforce that.

YH: How long do you see yourself working for New Haven Promise?

PM: Well, there’s still a lot of work to be done! I love what I do, I love being back at Yale, working so closely with the University, and I’m really proud that my alma mater does this. Because there isn’t another college in the country that pays millions of dollars for the city kids to attend other universities. It’s really quite phenomenal. And so, you know, I think I’ll be here. I’m not thinking about anything else at this point because we still have plenty of work to do.

Promising Future was originally published in The Yale Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.