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Bay Point Schools, Inc. in South Florida Shoots for the Stars with High School/High Tech

(April 16, 2007)

With the goal to continue to expand and support the Florida High School/ High Tech program, The Able Trust recently awarded $51,000 in grant funding to Bay Point Schools, Inc., in South Florida, to implement a Florida High School/High Tech (HS/HT) program. The newly establish HS/HT program at Bay Point Schools, Inc. will provide for 28 South Florida students to experience job shadowing, mentoring opportunities, corporate site visits, campus tours, service learning activities and summer internships. Cutler Bay Councilman, Ernest N. Sochin, was also in attendance at the presenting of grant funds to show his support of the partnership between the Florida HS/HT program and Bay Point Schools, Inc.

The Bay Point Schools, Inc. grant is made possible through a collaboration between The Able Trust and the Florida Department of Education Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). Florida's Vocational Rehabilitation Program serves youth with disabilities transitioning from school to work and has partnered with the HS/HT initiative to meet the needs of these students.

"The Able Trust is proud to support Bay Point Schools, Inc. as it works to reduce the dropout rate, increase enrollment in college and improve participation in education, vocational and employment related activities among students with disabilities, " said Bridget Pallango, Chair of The Able Trust Board of Directors.

With more than 90 percent of Florida HS/HT graduates entering post-secondary education, vocational training or securing employment in 2007, the Florida HS/HT programs shows proven results year after year. Currently, the Florida HS/HT program serves nearly 1,000 students annually in 33 project sites statewide.

Providing educational vocational and therapeutic services to adjudicated teenage boys is the primary focus of Bay Point Schools - an alternative boarding school catering to teenage males who have engaged in anti-social behavior and criminal activity. The joining of these two organizations is destined to produce positive results. Indeed, Bay Point Schools was rated the best program of its kind in the state of Florida by the Juvenile Justice Accountability Board and has also reported that over 90% of its graduates to never commit another crime after leaving the program.

With a 36 percent national high school drop-out rate for youth with disabilities and an increase in the South Florida drop-out rate, partnerships like Bay Point Schools and the HS/HT program will indeed assist in decreasing the drop-out rate among South Florida's high school students with disabilities.