About Us

Our mission is to empower students at underserved schools by equipping them with the essential tools to gain access to the College or University of their choice.

CAMP's Journey

2009

CAMP began when Dr. Martin Nalls designed a Leadership Birmingham project to address the obstacles to college access that low-income, minority, and first-generation students faced.

2011

CAMP was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a status we continue to maintain. We launched our first program, College Compass, that same year.

2014

We began collaborating with the Rotaract Club of Birmingham in conjunction with Parker High School with our Ready 2 Succeed program. CAMP was also tapped by GEAR UP Alabama in 2014 to provide powerful career planning and college-preparation support and consulting, bringing our outreach count to a total of over 9,000 students.

2017

We reached out to elementary students when we launched our Birmingham Summer Institute (BSI) for 30 minority students in 3rd-6th grade. BSI addresses the whole child with powerful math and reading curricula, social-emotional learning (SEL), and physical fitness & wellness. The following year, we hosted BSI for 100 students; BSI has averaged almost a year of growth in both math and reading each summer since its foundation.

2018

The Birmingham Merit Scholars program started in the fall of 2018 and continues to support select Birmingham City 12th graders qualify for access to highly competitive colleges and universities. The Merit Scholars program pairs students with mentors in the Birmingham Rotary Club and also offers essay writing and ACT prep workshops.

2019

We began work with GEAR UP Jefferson County by facilitating college and career readiness workshops to almost 5,000 students. This year we also expanded our summer efforts to include middle schools by facilitating the Jefferson County Summer Institute for over 600 students in that same GEAR UP cohort. 2019 has also seen us start an extensive College Application Week outreach; we are pleased to be working with 21 schools and 1000 students, generating a significant boost in FAFSA and scholarship application completion in underserved areas. As of late 2019, we currently serve over 14,000 students across Alabama; we have reached over 23,000 students in our 10 year tenure.

2021

As of mid-2021, we currently serve over 5,000 students across Alabama; we have reached over 25,000 students in our 10 year tenure.

What Drives Us

College Admissions Made Possible was established to address the issues that often prevent low-income and first-generation college students from achieving college success. The first issue is that students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds historically score significantly lower on standardized tests than students from wealthier backgrounds. Secondly, low-income students and their families often lack access to crucial information about the college admission and financial aid processes. Many urban and rural school districts have limited resources and are tasked with supporting students who are economically disadvantaged, historically marginalized, and have experienced trauma. While the average graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students in Alabama is 85%, college and career readiness sits at 63%.

The CAMP program was constructed to tear down barriers and to assist students in the less affluent, rural, and urban school systems to be admitted to and succeed in college. CAMP has a unique niche that is not duplicated anywhere else in Alabama; we offer students the same quality of college admissions services that high schools in affluent communities offer their students, focusing our efforts on not only low-income students, but also potential first generation college students. Our goal is to significantly increase the rate at which these targeted students apply for and enroll at colleges and universities. We are aiming to help build foundational understanding, increase the availability of critical college admissions information and testing support, and provide community networking for Alabama’s most parched students, promoting them to be agents of change in their world.