►
Description
Mayor Martin J. Walsh joins President of Benjamin Franklin Technical Institute Anthony Benoit to announce that the City of Boston will create more opportunities for students to attend college.
A
A
B
Hello,
everyone
and
welcome
to
Benjamin
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology
or,
as
our
students
call
it
befit
beep.
It
is
proud
to
serve
the
young
people
of
Greater
Boston,
who
graduate
from
this
college,
ready
for
good-paying
jobs
in
high
demand
technology
fields
through
personalized
support,
hands-on
learning
and
Industry
informed
curricula
befit
prepares,
Boston
students
for
careers
in
technology,
rewarding
work,
lifelong
learning
and
citizenship.
B
Gathered
with
us
this
morning,
our
students,
members
of
our
board
of
trustees,
faculty
and
other
staff
and
Friends
of
the
college,
all
interested
in
learning
about
an
exciting
partnership
between
our
non
profit
college
and
the
city
of
Boston,
which
the
mayor
will
be
announcing
today.
His
presence
here
is
a
reflection
of
our
shared
commitment
to
providing
local
youth
with
every
possible
chance
to
succeed.
B
B
Benjamin
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology
is
part
of
Mayor
Walsh's
vision
of
a
thriving,
healthy
and
innovative
Boston,
which
can
only
be
achieved
through
equality
and
opportunity
for
all
beef.
It
is
proud
to
partner
with
the
mayor
and
his
administration
in
building
creative
solutions
to
the
economic
and
social
challenges
of
the
21st
century.
B
Since
taking
office,
mayor
Walsh
has
focused
on
strengthening
Boston's
educational
infrastructure
from
pre-k
through
college,
adding
hundreds
of
high-quality
pre-kindergarten
seats,
funding,
extended
learning
time
and
advanced
curriculum
at
more
schools
and
securing
tuition
free
Community
College
for
Boston
Public
School
graduates.
This
final
accomplishment
is
the
one
that
we
are
most
proud
of
and
will
be
the
topic
of
the
mayor's
announcement.
Today
immediately
following
Mayor
Walsh's
announcement,
we
will
hear
from
artist
Street
of
the
Jeremiah
Burke
high
school,
as
well
as
two
students,
Gianna
and
halida
young
people
deeply
concerned
about
the
affordability
of
higher
education.
C
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
Mister
Thank
You,
mr.
president,
and
thank
you
everyone
here
at
Ben,
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology,
for
having
us
here
today.
I
want
to
give
a
special
recognition
to
the
teachers
and
the
professors.
Thank
you
for
your
great
work
and,
most
importantly,
our
students.
Thank
you
for
being
with
us
today.
All
the
students
from
this
great
school
I
want
to
thank
you.
What
I'm
going
to
announce
today,
which
I'll
do
in
a
minute
I,
want
to
thank
about
a
couple.
People
I,
don't
think
the
office
of
Workforce
Development
trend,
witness
yeah!
C
Thank
you
trained
for
being
with
us
today
and
your
incredible
team.
That's
with
you.
We
have
Chris
Osgood,
who
was
chief
of
streets
of
the
city
of
Oslo
with
us
today.
Thank
you.
We
have
the
superintendent
of
the
Boston
Public
Schools
Barbara
with
us
today.
Thank
you.
We
have
a
ton
of
other
folks
that
are
here
today
on
the
city
side.
I
want
to
thank
you
for
being
here
today.
We're
excited
about
naming
Ben
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology,
the
first
private
college,
to
participate
in
our
tuition
free,
Community,
College
program.
That's.
C
C
C
So
today,
that's
why
we
launched
a
tuition,
free,
Community
College,
to
make
high
quality
education
and
affordable
option
for
students
and,
in
some
cases,
a
reality.
We
saw
this
program
in
2016
we've
enrolled
over
300
students
in
the
program
since
decided.
90
percent
of
these
students
have
graduated
from
a
bps
high
school.
Nearly
85%
of
the
students
that
we
that
are
part
of
the
300
identifies
African,
American
or
Latino.
C
In
addition,
the
average
family
income
for
participating
in
this
program
is
$26,000
for
a
family,
so
it
really
is
about
getting
to
families
that
wouldn't
have
a
chance
of
young
people
that
wouldn't
have
a
chance
to
go
to
college
my
dream
of
going
to
call
but
realize
how
do
I
do
that?
How
do
I
add
more
burden
to
my
family
that
can't
afford
to
send
me
to
college.
That's,
that's!
That's
how
why
we
here
today
and
that's
how
we
got
to
this
point.
C
Higher
education
is
a
powerful
tool
to
break
down
many
barriers
and
moving
people
up
into
the
middle
class.
We
spent
a
lot
of
time
talking
about
getting
people
into
the
middle
class
and
we
talked
about
income
inequality.
We
talked
about
the
disparities
in
pay
and
we
talked
about
the
wealth.
Disparities
are
happening
in
our
society
and
and
one
way
of
addressing
those
issues
is
by
making
sure
people
have
opportunity
to
education,
and
then
people
have
opportunity
to
good
jobs
and
good
paying
jobs
after
that
happens.
C
Yet
many
of
your
colleagues
that
graduated
have
done
that
after
after
they
graduated
the
school,
we
want
I
want
to
make
sure
we
want
as
a
city
to
make
sure
that
all
of
our
students
succeed
and
that's
what
we're
gonna
do.
A
continue
to
grow
the
tuition
free
program.
So
we
can
reach
out
to
more
people
and
more
kids
and
more
opportunities
for
people,
and
that's
something
that's
really
important.
This
program
works
you
saw.
C
The
numbers
will
only
have
up
for
a
couple
years
now
we
have
300
people
in
three
hundred
students
and
young
people
in
the
program,
so
we
know
that
it
works
and
and
part
of
what
we
did
in
the
state
houses.
We
filed
every
refiled
legislative
program
and
we
file
different
piece
of
legislation
that
we
want
to
see
passed
and
one
of
the
things
that
I
filed
because
I've
seen
a
success
in
this
program.
We
want
to
see
the
program
that
we
started
here
in
Boston.
C
C
Those
you
in
the
room,
how
do
you
pay
for
this,
and
what
do
we
do?
The
program
is
funded
by
the
neighborhood
Jobs
Trust,
which
collects
linkage
fees
on
big
scale,
commercial
development
in
the
city
of
Boston.
That's
how
we're
paying
for
it.
So
with
the
investments
that
are
being
made
in
our
city
by
people
developing
and
building
in
our
city,
we're
taking
that
money,
putting
it
back
into
a
program
that
offers
education
for
people
to
move
through
that,
that's
that's
the
best
way
of
doing
it.
C
We've
also
filed
a
proposal
that
give
us
more
flexibility
on
linkage,
fees
to
leverage
our
city
success
even
more.
What
does
that
mean?
That
means
by
looking
at
there's
an
opportunity
for
us
to
look
at
linkage
and
raise
linkage,
so
we
can
put
more
money
in
the
program,
so
we
can
continue
to
expand
this
program
and
make
sure
this
program
is
funded
long
term.
C
We're
gonna
continue
to
find
more
ways
to
make
college
accessible
and
affordable
for
everyone,
and
that's
how
we
build
a
better
Boston
for
our
residents
and
I
just
want
to
say
two
seconds.
I
spoke
of
the
graduation
a
couple
years
ago
and
I
talked
about
my
path
through
college.
My
path
through
college
is
not
a
pretty
one.
I
started
at
Quincy
junior
college
I
did
a
year
there
I
got
it
I
didn't
get
into
Suffolk
University
when
I
wanted
to
so
I
want
the
Quincy
junior
free.
It
got
my
grades
up
and
I
realized.
C
I
could
do
the
work
and
with
the
Suffolk
University
I
did
a
semester
there
and
they
dropped
out
of
school,
and
it
was
many
many
years
later,
where
I
went
back
to
college
at
night.
At
Boston,
College
I
got
my
degree
working
days
as
a
state
representative
going
school
nights
and
it's
important
for
us,
and
the
value
of
that
diploma
is
so
important
and
no
matter
what
you're
doing
when
I
was
running
for
mayor
of
Boston.
C
You
know
I
was
on
a
stage
with
a
bunch
of
people
and
they
went
to
a
lot
of
great
colleges
and
I
was
able
to
say
I'm
a
college
graduate
and
if
I
didn't
go
back
to
college
and
I'm
standing
on
the
stage
saying
well,
I'm
on
high
school
I
graduate
high
school,
and
it's
so
it
helps
you
with
your
advancement
of
your
life
in
any
career.
It
is
so
I
want
to
congratulate
the
students
it
again.
C
My
advice
word
to
you
today
is,
if
you're
thinking
about
dropping
out,
because
you
don't
want
to
do
this,
don't
it's
a
class
at
a
time.
I
can't
tell
you
the
amount
of
times.
I
want
the
guys
talking
these
guys.
Early
about
this
is
a
late
day.
I
can't
tell
you
the
amount
of
times
that
I
drove
the
class
I
was
in
the
car.
I
was
eating
a
sandwich
and
I
was
dropping
out
of
school
I'm
like
do
I
need
this.
I
don't
need
this.
What
am
I
gonna
for
I?
Don't
wanna
do
this?
C
D
Well,
good
morning,
as
an
educator
at
the
Jeremiah
Bart
high
school
within
the
Boston
Public
School
District
I
commend
mayor
wash
and
his
team
and
the
Ben
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology
for
taking
another
step
to
removing
the
socio-economic
barriers
that
keep
most
of
our
students
from
college
and
career
opportunities
at
the
high
school.
This
tuition-free
announcement
not
only
expand
more
opportunities
for
students.
It
expand
opportunities
for
more
students.
D
But
what
great
cities
like
Boston
and
engaging
colleges
like
Ben,
Franklin
Institute
of
Technology,
collaborating
together
to
offer
tuition
free
program
that
would
help
break
the
cycle
of
poverty
by
providing
pathways
for
more
students
to
attend
and
begin
their
careers
and
what
a
pleasure
to
me
to
introduce
to
seniors
from
the
Burke
High
School,
who
will
probably
be
among
the
first,
not
probably,
who
will
be
among
the
first
cohorts
of
students
to
experience
this
opportunity.
Jana
mighty
dia
and
Helena
montage.
E
Good
morning
to
you
all,
my
name
is
Ayana
right
now,
a
senior
in
high
school,
the
break
I'm
also
enrolled
at
eppley
ASAP
program
in
bfet
and
I'm
majoring
in
biomedical
engineering.
Right
now,
after
I
had
I
heard
about
these
news,
I
was
actually
like
so
relieved
because
it's
not
like
college
here,
I'm
bussing
is
very
expensive
and
my
parents
cannot
afford
to
pay
for
one.
So
I
knew
about
the
fact
that
I
had
to
work
a
lot
just
to
get
the
money
and
work
and
study
is
not
easy.
E
F
F
So
how
so
grateful
because
it's
gonna
be
helped
me
a
lot
because
I'm
we
are,
my
father
has
three
keys
right,
so
we
are
senior
so
next
year
next
year
we
had
to
come
here
so
for
you
guys,
we
have
to
work,
but
now
we
don't
need
to
worry
about
them,
because
even
I
know
if
you
would
have
field
lights,
help
us
do
this,
and
but
it's
for
this
he
would
like
to
work
extra
hours
right
and
you
would
be
so
tired.
So
now
we
don't
have
to
worry
about
our
future.
So
now.
D
D
B
C
Gonna
have
all
that
information
here
at
your
school,
so
you
may
ask
emailed
ask
guidance
people
in
the
admissions
folks
on
how
are
ya,
because
it's
a
little
different
in
different
schools
and
what
this
is
new.
So
it's
a
private
college,
so
I
would
go
through
the
emissions
and
they'll
walk
you
through
the
whole
process
and
any
information
you
can
find
that
information
I.
Think
it's
on
our
website,
City,
Boston,
gov,
I,
know
economic
development
or
workforce
dominant
city
of
Boston.
C
E
C
Starts
in
September
here,
September
yeah,
so
we
did.
We
start
out
at
Roxbury,
Community,
College
and
Bunker
Hill,
Community
College,
and
then,
when
we
I
think
the
second
year
we
expand
at
the
mass
Bay,
Community
College
and
then
this
third
year
we're
expanding
now
to
private
institution.
So
it's
kind
of
like
we're
taking
the
next
step
because
we're
seeing
the
success
of
the
program
the
first
year
we
did
I
think
it
was
like
50,
kids
or
something
I
went
into
it
and
was
starting
to
see
it
in
papariga.
D
C
A
C
Two
of
my
motivations
to
stay
to
be
see
was
there's
two
voices
in
my
head.
That
told
me
that
when
I
dropped
out
of
school,
I
made
a
mistake,
I
never
go
back
and
those
two
voices
stayed
in
my
head,
the
whole
time
two
individuals
and
when
I
left
denied
I
left
like
the
first
person
I
caused
my
mother.
That's
how
I
graduated
school
college.
She
was
very
happy.
C
It's
an
immigrant
and
then
they're
in
from
Ireland,
see
I
mean
just
she
loved
it,
and
then
I
called
the
two
people
that
that
voices
are
my
head
and
I
told
them.
Both.
Thank
you
for
thank
you
for
saying.
I
wasn't
gonna
graduate
because
they
gave
me
the
inspiration
and
challenged
me
to
keep
going,
even
though
I
was
like
years
later
that
yeah.
A
C
C
But
really
it's
a
it's
for
graduates
out
of
high
school
now,
so
our
main
target
is
for
graduates
coming
on
a
VPS
now
now
for
your
school,
a
little
different
because
you
weren't
part
of
this
process
the
beginning,
so
you
didn't
have
an
opportunity,
so
we
can
go
back
and
look
and
see
who's
here,
but
for
all
the
students,
it's
we
try
to
grab
you
out
of
out
of
high
school.
We
try
not
to
have
that
yeah
that
gappiya
turns
into
a
gap
decade,
and
we
don't
want
to
see
that
happen.
C
Its
degree
program,
yeah
you'd,
have
to
get
a
degree
either
the
intent
it's
it's.
It's
encouraged
to
get
people,
so
we
put
timelines
on
it.
This
is
not
something.
This
is
not
the
way
I
went
to
college
and
did
it
over
a
ten-year
period
roughly.
This
is
about
you
have
time
to
the
timeline
you
have
to
eat,
agree
in
and
you
have
to
achieve
certain
numbers
of
requirement.
C
It
really
is
about
focusing
and
it's
about
putting
down
and
being
serious
about
your
education,
because
you'll
one
step
away
from
the
from
the
career
world,
and
when
you
talk
when
I
talk
about
being
in
the
middle
class,
a
lot
of
that
it
depends
on
having
a
degree
or
not
a
lot
of
folks
that
that,
when
we
talk
about
income,
inequality
is
a
whole
bunch
of
reasons
for
income
inequality.
And
some
of
those
reasons
are
people
need
to
push
themself
in
education
to
be
able
to
get
better
paying
jobs
and
support
their
family.
A
C
That,
yes,
they're,
all
that
all
that
the
emissions
oscillating
all
that
I
think
it's
3.03
in
the
two-year
program.
If
you
get
it
done
three
years,
so
it's
gonna
push
you
but
again,
you're,
not
in
high
school
anymore.
It's
it's
a
step
into
real
light.
So
it's
about
you
gotta
push
yourself
to
hit
those
hit.
Those
numbers,
that's
the
point
behind
it,
see.
B
C
C
The
Peace
of
the
kids,
the
young
people
that
come
to
the
school
and
then
people
that
come
to
the
school,
our
Boston
residents,
UI
Boston
and
it's
you
know
you
come
from
neighborhoods
like
I,
didn't
do
it
to
certain
and
you
work
on
and
you
work
your
hands
and
you're
working
your
brain
and
you
work
at
it.
So
I
think
this
is
a
natural
fit
the
Boston
yeah.
C
No
we're
gonna
talk
off
topic,
we'll
get
there
later.
I'm
I'll
get
you
guys
a
placenta,
we'll
talk
about
that
Joe
yeah!
That's
it
we'll
grab
it
right
about
school,
I
mean
yeah.
Absolutely
dr.
recipient
CPS
go
to
school,
continue
to
move
this.
This
program
works
you.
You
know,
I
know
that
the
federal
government
we
have
a
piece
of
legislation
that
they're
trying
to
pass
the
promise
act.
The
DREAM
Act
in
Congress
and
the
Senate
it
looks
like
that
the
sent
to
Congress
this
Congress
is
online.
C
Jim,
McGovern
and
and
congresswoman
Clark
were
embossing
the
other
day
and
they
said
that
they
there
will
be
a
vote
on
that
piece
of
legislation
and
they
do
feel
successful.
That
will
move
forward.
We're
not
sure
it's
gonna
happen
the
Senate
side,
but
we
are
not
stopping
in
Boston.
We
treat
every
child
every
young
person
the
same.
So
just
if
you
want
to
be
by
this
program,
you
sign
up
for
this
program.
I'm
not
this
says.