The Concept

Green: Our President and an area donor decided that the Learning Corner area, the Wealthy Learning Corner would be a perfect place to position one of our first Learning Corners. It is in an area that is predominantly African-American, and has a high rate of unemployment and low high school completion.

Burt: We had collaborations with the community and asked them what did they want, and they asked us to bring the college to the Community. We initially started with GED completions and upon many of our students receiving their GEDs or high school equivalencies, they wanted to pursue postsecondary education and training. So, we partnered with the GED created a seamless transition for students to go to our occupational area or our liberal arts taking college level courses.

Green: I see the mission of the Learning Corner at Wealthy being one of helping students build a foundation to be ready to enter college, and then to take things from there on.

Burt: Many times individuals who are academically under prepared to go to college will come to GRCC’s Learning Corner to create a great foundation they need to be successful in college.

Why it Works

Green: I think one of the things that makes the Learning Corner so special and so successful is what goes on once you enter the doors. Students who have often had difficulty in high school and have poor memories of what learning was about when they went through high school come here and are greeted at the door and welcomed into the center. They have the opportunity to work with college professors, and I have heard many of them extremely excited about the fact they now have a college I.D. and are a college student. The fact that the staff at the Learning Corner work so hard to encourage them and tell them about what they can do and about the possibilities. All while they are doing it, they are constantly being patted on the back, they are constantly being encouraged. But at the same time expectations remain high. The standards have not been lowered. It is the same college curriculum at the Learning Corner as we have on main campus. The difference I think is the faculty and staff there take the time to pat them on the back, to celebrate their accomplishments and tell them what they can do and what the possibilities are beyond the Learning Corner.

Burt: Many of our students enter our doors with their heads hung down, low self-esteem, they don’t think that they can do it. Here we have a lot of peer mentoring, we cheerlead our students and we start off with high expectations for our students and we end with high expectations.

Green: Now we see that more of our students are interested in going on to higher ed, so it is beyond just trying to help them get their GED. In this center we are able to increase participation, we are able to directly impact the area’s economic quality, we are able to impact the completion rate of our students because, again, our students are building foundational skills that will help them not only in future college classes and higher level college classes and that will also help them on their jobs that they either have or will get, but will also help them as citizens of this community and as citizens of the global community.

Making an Impact

Dante: The Learning Corner is the catalyst for my mission, it’s been everything, It put me on a mission, it helped me plan a mission, it helped me even want a mission, to want things. You know, to want things? Um, it’s not that hard.

Burt: Within the first year, we served approximately 450 GED students that came through our doors to seek higher education. From there, we ended up starting off a small cohort program some of those students that wanted to get their college degrees or some training. We had approximately 20 students that went through the first year of our college level courses, what we call our academic foundation courses, and that is all that we offer here for the college level students. Currently today, we have about fifty percent of those students who are going to be graduating within the next one or two semesters that they have transitioned down to Grand Rapids Community College Main Campus.

Felicia: I had a job working at a packaging company and I had worked myself to the top, but the top was nine or ten dollars an hour. My youngest son said one time, “Mommy I want to be just like you.” I didn’t want that for him, I want better for him. So I have to do better for myself.

What’s Next

Green: The model that we have at the Learning Corner is one that we know we can replicate in other areas of the community, and other areas of the state. We are excited about moving to the next level now. We are currently in the planning stages of our second Learning Corner in another quadrant of the city.

Burt: Research has shown us time and time again that there is a director correlation with poverty and low education attainment. We realize that this is true; however, the Learning Corner is making a difference by providing and bringing education to individuals so that we can eradicate that poverty and low education by creating success amongst our students.

Dante: The Learning Corner has just changed my life. It has opened my eyes to a whole new world.

Green: We teach more than just the reading, the writing, and the arithmetic. They go away with a new sense of community, of working in teams, they are communicating better, they are exposed to people from a lot of different backgrounds and all of that works to help an individual grow to be as a valuable resource in our community.

For more information,

please contact

Dr. Velvie C. Green at 616-234-3920