Grit and Hope: A Year with Five Latino Students and the Program That Helped Them Aim for College

Barbara Davenport

Published by University of California Press 2016

Grit and Hope

A Year with Five Latino Students and the Program That Helped Them Aim for College

Barbara Davenport

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520960077

Overview
Contents

About this book

Grit and Hope tells the story of five inner-city Hispanic students who start their college applications in the midst of the country’s worst recession and of Reality Changers, the program that aims to help them become the first in their families to go college. This year they must keep up their grades in AP courses, write compelling essays for their applications, and find scholarships to fund their dreams. One lives in a garage and struggles to get enough to eat. Two are academic standouts, but are undocumented, ineligible for state and federal financial assistance. One tries to keep his balance as his mother gets a life-threatening diagnosis; another bonds with her sister when their parents are sidelined by substance abuse.

The book also follows Christopher Yanov, the program’s youthful, charismatic founder in a year that’s as critical for Reality Changers’ future as it is for the seniors. Yanov wants to grow Reality Changers into national visibility. He’s doubled the program’s size, and hired new employees, but he hasn’t anticipated that growing means he’ll have to surrender some control, and trust his new staff. It’s the story of a highly successful, yet flawed organization that must change in order to grow.

Told with deep affection and without sentimentality, the students stories show that although poverty and cultural deprivation seriously complicate youths’ efforts to launch into young adulthood, the support of a strong program makes a critical difference.

Author information

Davenport Barbara :

Barbara Davenport has written for the Christian Science Monitor, Stanford Magazine, and alternative weeklies in San Diego, where she lives. She is also the author, as Barbara Rosof, of The Worst Loss. For more about her, please visit www.barbaradavenport.com.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Author’s Note Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Cast of Characters Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Across the Water Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. Senior Academy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3. Looking for a Home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
4. Inventing Reality Changers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
5. Dangerous Enough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
6. Uphill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
7. Doing RC: How It Works Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
8. Breaking Faith, Breaking Free Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
9. A Great Small Organization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
10. Undocumented Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
11. Three-Day Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
12. Essay Crunch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
13. Santiago Milagro and the Four- Year Plan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
14. Walking on Water Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
15. Reset Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
16. The Guy Inside Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
17. Rocks on Her Legs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
18. Stars and Projects and Everyone Else Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
19. Going the Distance with Eduardo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
20. The Guy Outside Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
21. Getting In Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
22. The Costs of Their Dreams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
23. Reckonings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
24. Scholarship Banquet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
25. The Evolution of Reality Changers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223