About Us

Asheville-Buncombe Education Coalition

A Backdrop of Need

In the late 1990’s, research showed that more than 40 percent of students in Buncombe County who entered ninth grade did not graduate in four years. A major contributing factor was the over 45 percent gap between how minority and white students achieved in Asheville City Schools—the second highest gap in the state.

A Community Response

Working on education as a community priority, Asheville-Buncombe VISION identified reduction of the high school dropout rate as the primary education goal for Asheville and Buncombe County as early as 1996. In 1997, 1999 and 2000, a series of community summits identified mentoring as a core strategy. Moreover, VISION’s education committee, led by Virgil Smith and Kaye Lamb, created a “Schools 2000” goal for both school systems to be number one in graduation rates in North Carolina for comparable size high schools.

The Birth of a Coalition

During the same period, two concerned community members, Joel and Marla Adams, decided to do something about the dilemma we faced. Together they coordinated a bus trip to Durham, North Carolina, to review a successful community/schools partnership. Among those represented on the bus trip: concerned community members, children’s service providers and educators.

A merger of discussions between the people involved with Asheville-Buncombe VISION, the Durham bus group, and other community leaders led to the formation of the Asheville-Buncombe Education Coalition. Its purpose:

To support our students and our schools in reducing the achievement gap and increasing graduation rates.

Our Vision

Within comparable-sized North Carolina school systems, Asheville and Buncombe County public schools will be number one in graduation rates by 2010.

History: A Timeline


1996 In 1996, Asheville Buncombe VISION first identified the dropout rate as a critical issue for our community, holding two forums to develop solutions

1998 In 1998, a group of 35 leaders from nonprofits, educational and funding institutions traveled to Durham by bus to study a model program for youth in schools

2000 In 2000, members from VISION and the "Durham bus group" merged to form the Asheville Buncombe Education Coalition

2001 During the 2001-2002 school year, the Coalition began coordination of services for 90 African-American male students in the 5th grade in Asheville City Schools

2002 For the 2002-2003 school year, the Coalition expanded services to 280 students—in both Asheville City and Buncombe County schools, covering males and females, and all races

2003

For the 2003-2004 school year, the Coalition expanded its role to serve 360 students

2004 For the 2004-2005 school year, the Coalition’s goal is to serve 400 students. And this year we expanded our referral criteria and dropped our initial service grade from fourth grade to second.

Future Plans

  • To develop a strong summer program to prevent “summer slide” among our served students
  • To continue to expand our services, focusing more attention on the primary grades as we add students
  • To develop a diverse funding base—with greater emphasis on local individuals and businesses as well as increased national resources.