About DeRoy Education Partners and the DeEP Fellowship

DeRoy Education Partners (DeEP) believes that deeper commitments and deeper connections will create better outcomes for students, their families and their communities. By taking some of the financial pressures off its Fellows while providing more college success skills, financial literacy and career preparation, DeEP believes it can infuse students with resources that empower them to finish school and pursue more rewarding careers. DeEP fundamentally holds that community takes care of community, and in doing so, everyone is better off. So DeEP asks its Fellows to step up and share in taking care of their own communities, knowing that will be of equal reward to its Fellows.

What are DeEP’s guiding principles?

• DeEP will focus on students already at the mid-point or later of completing their studies.

• DeEP will provide financial and other resources to build skills and provide opportunities for its Fellows.

• DeEP Fellows will give back during the program to other community programs and as alumni to future DeEP Fellows.

• DeEP will include components and mechanisms that will create a deeper relationship with its Fellows over a longer period of time in order to generate deeper outcomes.

• DeEP will listen to the community and collaborate with it, not dictate to it, by partnering with service providing partners.

Why community service?

The goal is for DeEP Fellows to serve as tutors, mentors, or in some other capacity in cooperation with nonprofit 501(c)(3) community organizations  as a core component of their Fellowship.  This will allow Fellows to:

• Get real world experience, including professionalism, time management, organization, decision making

• Improve their own learning skills and reading comprehension

• Contribute back to the community, which expands the future readiness of others in the community for higher education

Note that community service will not be too demanding upon the Fellows’ schedule while they are participating.