WASHINGTON — Doris Buffett — the older sister of billionaire Warren Buffett – has donated a $2 million grant to Germanna Community College to establish an early college program focused on helping young, black males get a leg up in life.
The Gladys Todd Academy is a duel enrollment program that will enable selected students from Buffett’s hometown of Fredericksburg and nearby Spotsylvania to graduate from high school with an associate’s degree. Students would begin taking classes in 11th grade. The program is open to all first generation college, underserved students, and since April 5, is also open to female students.
“We’ll have over 100 students to receive their associate’s degrees in general studies,” says Antwan Perry, Gladys Todd Academy Project Director at Germanna, “We’ll have hundreds more participate in the summer program and the summer bridge.”
Buffett, 87, is the founder of the Sunshine Lady Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to addressing social causes. In April, Buffett chose to zero in on helping to lift up young, low-income, black males, from the bottom of the high school graduation barrel.
In fact, according to the Schott Foundation for Public Education report, an estimated 59 percent of black males graduated from high school on time in the 2012-2013 school year, compared to 65 percent of Latino males and 80 percent of white males.
Faced with that disparity, Buffett believes many young, black males who don’t graduate from high school will spiral into a life of poverty and hopelessness. However, if someone can intercede and help change the direction of their lives, Buffett says young, black males can be directed to a more productive path.
“I would say that someone who cares about them makes all the difference,” Buffett says. “That’s just about the whole story right there. That does it for them.”
The program will also have a middle school counterpart, the pre-college Gladys Todd Academy, which will act as a feeder system for eight-grade students transitioning to high school.
“What we’re doing with the academy, we’re starting at the middle school level,” Perry says. “If we can get students interested in college, their families involved. They’ll be more likely to attend college once they’re at that age.”
The Gladys Todd will begin its mentoring program this summer and its scholarship academy in the fall.
