Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake has officially opened the doors to the Excel Center, its new tuition-free adult high school in downtown Baltimore. The Excel Center fills a huge gap in the city’s education system for the estimated 80,000 residents who didn’t complete high school, awarding a Maryland State Department of Education diploma to students who complete the program.
“Goodwill has been here in Baltimore for more than a century, and we’ve seen firsthand how important education is to a community,” Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake CEO Lisa Rusyniak told the crowd assembled for the official grand opening event. “We’ve seen all the doors that open when people have a high school education, enabling them to pursue a better job, a vocational certification, or a college degree.”
On hand to help celebrate the grand opening were a number of Baltimore-area dignitaries, including, Elonna Jones, Baltimore City Regional Director in U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office who presented Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake with a citation.
“Dropping out of high school is like jumping from a moving train,” Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Board Chair Joe Durham said during his remarks. “You’re stranded there at the side of the tracks, watching your future pass you by.”
Durham said the Excel Center provides a second chance not only for students but also for Baltimore. “We haven’t given up on Baltimore,” he said. “Instead, we are providing it with a new asset this city can leverage for its residents who need a leg up.”
Rusyniak expressed Goodwill’s appreciation for all the financial support provided by federal, state and nonprofit funders. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen was instrumental in making federal funding available, in the form of a $1.4 million Congressional Direct Spending grant. In addition, the Maryland General Assembly provided $1 million in FY2023 and FY2024 in the Maryland state budget with the assistance of Senate President William Ferguson and Senators Guy Guzzone and Cory McCray.
Funds to actually renovate and convert the former headquarters building of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake came from generous grants provided by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation ($500,000), the Abell Foundation ($250,000), the France-Merrick Foundation ($200,000), as well as $1 million from Goodwill’s own budget.
The Maryland Department of Education also committed $250,000 annually to help keep the Excel Center operating for many years to come.
Goodwill created the Excel Center — a first-of-its-kind free high school in Baltimore — to transform adults’ lives. The school offers a streamlined, accelerated, self-paced, and highly individualized academic program that typically takes two years to complete, depending on how many high school credits a student has already accumulated.
“We meet people where they are,” explained DaShawn Archer, lead teacher at the Baltimore Excel Center. “Each student will arrive in the Excel Center with a different number of credits they already earned toward their diploma. So, we tailor our program to fit their needs.”
It enables Baltimore-area residents aged 21 and over to achieve a high school diploma along with helping them access post-secondary education and careers in growing, sustainable industries. This first session is filled to capacity with 150 Baltimore students, although Goodwill plans to double its class size in future years.
The Baltimore Excel Center is ideal for working adults and parents, offering free drop-in childcare, transportation assistance, flexible class schedules, plus embedded life counseling and job training to help students prepare for high-growth industries. Only Maryland residents are eligible.
New students Trimiea Cannady and Shamar Rice shared their stories of how they discovered the Excel Center and what it means in their lives.
Rice, who left high school three years in a row to escape the negative influences surrounding him, is pursuing his own path to acceptance at the number-one arts college in Los Angeles with $64,000 in scholarship money, contingent on first getting his high school diploma.
Cannady sees the Excel Center as an opportunity for a second chance. After a fight got her suspended from high school in 2012, she decided not to return. But today, she wants to be a role model for her three daughters, showing them how it’s possible to overcome multiple challenges to get an education and thrive.
The Center’s proven curriculum, already shown to be successful at the 37 other Goodwill Excel Centers in the U.S., will help Baltimoreans without a high school degree compete in today’s modern workforce. Excel Centers respond to the fact that life commitments and other circumstances can often stop people from continuing their high school education.
After completion of Excel Center programs in other cities, 70% of graduates enroll in college or are employed six months after graduation, and 39% of Excel Center graduates have increased their earnings compared to those without a diploma. Research has shown there is an eight-month return on investment to the state after an Excel Center student graduates and a 34-month return on investment for non-graduates.
The Baltimore Excel Center is central to the ongoing mission of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, which has been preparing Maryland residents to secure and retain employment and build successful independent lives for more than 100 years. The nonprofit annually provides services to more than 58,000 people in need of assistance because of physical, mental or other social barriers and places approximately 2,500 into jobs giving them “Not a charity, but a chance.”
For more details about the Baltimore Excel Center, please visit: https://excelcentermd.org/. To apply to the Excel Center, visit: https://excelcentermd.org/
(Photo credit: Glenwood Jackson)
