Looking Back at 2023, Looking Forward to 2024
This past year marked a period of significant growth for Come to Believe. In 2023, we welcomed Butler University and University of Mount St. Vincent (UMSV) to our network—joining Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago and Dougherty Family College of the University of St. Thomas in accompanying young people who are underrepresented at selective colleges.
CTB’s Carlos Martinez (far left) and Steve Katsouros, SJ (second from left) at the press conference announcing Butler’s new two-year college.
Butler and UMSV were both part of our 2022-2023 Design Grant cohort, CTB’s annual initiative that offers institutions the opportunity to explore our model and see if it’s a fit for their campuses. After learning more about how the CTB model provides a pathway for underserved students to receive four-year degrees, these two universities determined there was a need for two-year colleges in their communities—and that they could successfully open and sustain these colleges.
Thanks to our generous community, CTB also celebrated raising over $1 million to support our mission at the end of 2023 through the Bezos Match. Mike and Jackie Bezos offered to donate $500,000 to our cause if other donors could match—and CTB supporters more than met the match! We’re thrilled to use this generous gift to help other higher ed institutions bring our model to their campuses.
As we kick off 2024, CTB is continuing to work with our latest cohort of Design Grant universities. Participating institutions are hard at work evaluating the feasibility of bringing the CTB model to their communities, aided by CTB’s customized support.
CTB’s 2023-2024 Design Grant cohort visited Arrupe College in October
In the coming months, Butler will hire its founding dean and move toward enrolling its inaugural class for its CTB model college in 2025. This spring, Seton College at UMSV will send out its acceptance letters for its inaugural class, who will begin their journey as Seton students in the fall. We continue to collaborate withButler and UMSV and look forward to sharing their upcoming milestones–and student success stories
