Rosen Builds on Success of Tangelo Park Project with Free Preschool and College Education for Parramore Neighborhood Children
For more information, contact:
Robert Hubler
407-639-4212, rhubler@RosenHotels.com
ORLANDO (Feb. 6, 2015) – For the past 21 years, Orlando hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen has provided residents of Orlando’s Tangelo Park disadvantaged neighborhood with free preschool for their children, free college or vocational school for every graduating high school senior, and a neighborhood center offering free parenting classes. Since then, high school graduation rates have soared from 52% to 90%, and to date, more than 280 young people have attended college or vocational school, up from just one or two per year in the 1990s. Now, Rosen has announced that he will offer a very similar education program for residents of Parramore, an underprivileged community located west of downtown Orlando.
Rosen has partnered with Orange County Public Schools to offer a free preschool program at a brand new $41.3 million public school in Parramore. When the school opens in August 2017, it will serve approximately 800 to 900 students in preschool through eighth grade. Two-, three-, and four-year-old children will be able to attend the preschool at no cost, with teacher salaries paid for by the Harris Rosen Foundation. Plans for the school include up to 24 preschool classrooms designed to accommodate up to 12 children each. The current supervisor of the Tangelo Park preschool program, Patti Jo Houle, will also oversee the new program at Parramore.
And, much like the Tangelo Park Program, all those who attend the new public elementary and middle school and go on to graduate from Jones High School will receive a free two or four-year college or vocational school education, also paid by the Harris Rosen Foundation. The free tuition offer includes all associated costs, including meals, books and transportation. Rosen estimates the new program will eventually cost his foundation approximately $4.5 million per year. By comparison, the Tangelo Park Program costs approximately $1.5 million per year.
“QUOTE,” said Barbara Jenkins, Superintendent of Orange County Public Schools.
The new Parramore program is also supported by Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida (UCF). Dr. Dale Whittaker, provost of UCF, announced that the university will provide scholarships for a four-year degree to the school’s College of Medicine to any student who attends the new Parramore school, graduates from Jones High School and finishes an undergraduate program at UCF.
“I am so pleased to see the Orlando community come together in support of the young people in the Parramore neighborhood,” said Harris Rosen, President & COO, Rosen Hotels & Resorts®. “This new partnership proves that the successful program we created in Tangelo Park 21 years ago can indeed be duplicated and adapted to fit the specific needs and assets of any community. I hope that these Rosen Foundation programs will serve as an inspiration to other businesses, school districts and universities, and empower them to create positive change in their neighborhoods here in Central Florida and throughout America.”
The new 14-acre Parramore campus also will include a separate building for an onsite Boys & Girls Club, helping students to stay on track with homework and stay out of trouble after school.
Harris Rosen recently received the 2015 Coretta Scott King A.N.G.E.L. (Advancing Nonviolence through Generations of Exceptional Leadership) Award at the King Center in Atlanta. Rosen was recognized for his more than 20 year commitment to the Tangelo Park Program, a three-fold educational community service initiative within the once drug- and crime-ridden Tangelo Park neighborhood of Orlando.
About Rosen Hotels & Resorts®
Located in Orlando, Fla., Rosen Hotels & Resorts® comprises nearly 6,500 guest rooms at seven hotels: three convention and leisure properties – Rosen Plaza®, Rosen Centre® and Rosen Shingle Creek®, as well as four value-priced leisure properties – Rosen Inn International; Rosen Inn Closest to Universal; Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando; and Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. For more information, visit www.rosenhotels.com.
