DOWNTOWN COLLEGE PREP FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
DCP prepares first-generation students for college success.
About This Cause
Twenty years ago, Downtown College Prep opened its door prepared to provide an equitable and college-prep education to low-income, first-generation and disenfranchised students. In doing so, DCP began its journey to becoming a prominent and leading community institution of learning in San Jose. As Silicon Valley’s first charter school, Downtown College Prep’s 20-year long story resembles the journey that a majority of our students and their families face. For example, many of our students and their parents had to learn to navigate and understand a new and complex society than what they were used to or what they expected, and they often had to learn a new language as well. Similarly, DCP had to find new ways to navigate an educational field not fit to support at-risk students; DCP had to learn how to provide a different type of education that can properly prepare first-generation students to obtain their college degree. Both DCP and our families have always been and continue to be filled with ganas to make an impact and change for their children. Furthermore, DCP shares the same dreams that our community of parents have for their children: for them to obtain a better and higher education in an academic climate that was failing to support them. Four years after it first opened its doors, DCP’s commitment to providing a college-prep education grew, along with the realization that four years was not enough to best prepare these students and their families for success through college. Students and their families had to begin the conversation of a college education a lot sooner - to understand why it’s important and how to make it possible, academically and financially. For that reason, DCP opened its first middle school in the small community of Alviso, San Jose. And although it was short lived, and its closing seemed like a setback, it did not stop us. At DCP, we learn from experience and like our students rise above obstacles time and time again, as a community we came together to allow for more growth to come from it. In the three years that DCP Alviso served students, it successfully proved that by providing support sooner better prepared students for long-term success. It demonstrated that each student had the desire and was capable of a college education, given the right support. In addition to that, it allowed more time for parents to ask questions about what sending their child to college meant, how to best support them, and how to make it a financial possibility. It gave more time and space for students and their families to dismantles their fears and hesitations about a college degree - and in return, it gave more time and space for students to focus on their grades once in high school. And soon, like DCP Alviso’s mascot, the phoenix, our community rose again in 2013(?) with the opening of DCP Alum Rock with a sixth grade class, in East Side San Jose. In 2017, DCP Alum Rock graduated its first senior class. Since its opening six years ago, DCP Alum Rock has become a leading STEM 6-12th grade school. It has not been until recently that DCP has been able to have a place we can comfortably call home - a challenge that many of our students and families also share. And like our families, we have not let this challenge stop us from creating a comunidad of learners, leaders and of generations celebrating academic promise. We also did not it stop to come together as a community and be grateful for the hard work and growth that took place in our classrooms then. Whether a classroom in a church blocks away from classrooms in a different building Downtown San Jose, or on a shared campus or tucked away in small-town Alviso, the DCP community proved one thing: if teachers, students and parents all remain committed to obtaining a college degree then the opportunities to learn become boundless. In 2017, DCP opened up its new campus El Primero after relocating to Alma and Monterey, which proudly serves 5th-12th grade students. Twenty years since its first freshmen class, DCP remains a prominent member of the San Jose community, and a place of learning, hope and growth for all of its community members. Since it’s opening, DCP has (insert stats about alumni, graduation rates). How has DCP been able to foster such a supportive and loving community and create a safe learning environment for San Jose students? At the forefront, we have our teachers. At Downtown College Prep, it is pivotal that educators acknowledge the humanity of their students - because many of our students are low-income, first-gen and of color, our staff is ready to create a supportive classroom culture where students not only participate in college-prep courses, but are also given a space to safely learn about themselves, their communities and their circumstances. Furthermore, our teachers know it takes a village, and therefore must have a progressive cooperative line of communication with students parents - from knowing parents names to updating parents on both setbacks and successes, at DCP we know that it is all necessary to truly serve our mission. Additionally, DCP teachers are determined to send their students to college and ready to provide the support necessary, academically or emotionally. Equally responsible for DCP’s success is the community of parents and primary caregivers, who have helped shape our school culture from the very beginning.