Director named for Dropout prevention program director named: The Gateway to College program received seed funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

(MCT)

Dec. 14--A Pueblo Community College academic advisor has been hired to lead the new Gateway to College program to benefit local high school dropouts.

Monica Moore was introduced Thursday as the director of the nationwide program that will begin this fall in Pueblo.

PCC and Pueblo City Schools are teaming up to implement the Gateway to College program which allows for high school dropouts to earn a diploma and gain college credit at the same time.

The Gateway to College program is getting started in Pueblo thanks to a $300,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Gateway program, which started in 2000 in Portland, Ore., is part of the Early College High School Initiative, but is focused on reducing the high poverty rates of high school dropouts by getting them into an alternative program to help them attain an education. The goal is to have the students complete an associate degree or higher after completing the diploma program.