Danville Area Community College receives $200,000 grant to help dropout prevention

DANVILLE, Ill. (WAND) — Danville Area Community College received a $200,000 grant from The Old National Bank Foundation to fund their Middle Dropout Prevention Program.

The program is known to help high school students that are unsure of their plans after high school, or on the verge of dropping out.

“They helped me figure everything out and it got me on the right track with my education,” said recent graduate, Destiny Parker.

Just this past semester the program assisted 60 students with graduating. Dean of Adult Education Terry Goodwin says his goal is to help them achieve their goals.

“We actually call it intrusive case management," said Goodwin. "It’s managing these students and helping them succeed their goals because they set the goals, they know what they want to do, they recognize what they need to do, and our goal is to help them do that.”

Parker even had the opportunity to speak at her own graduation from the program.

“I did not have faith in myself in graduating at all. Before I came here, I was ready to drop out of high school," said Parker. "I spoke at graduation when before that was something I never thought I would do.”

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