The Brief

MOREHEAD, Ky. — The summer after ninth grade, Zoey Griffith found herself in an unfamiliar setting: a dorm on the Morehead State University campus.

There, she'd spend the months before her sophomore year taking classes in core subjects like math and biology, as well as electives like oil painting.

For Griffith, it was an opportunity, but a scary one. "It was a big deal for me to live on campus at the age of 14," she said. Morehead State is about an hour from her hometown of Maysville. "I was nervous, and I remember that I cried the first time that my dad left me on move-in day."

Her mother became a parent as a teenager and urged her daughter to avoid the same experience. Griffith's father works as a mechanic, and he frowns upon the idea of higher education, she said.

And so college back then seemed a distant and unlikely dream.

But Griffith's stepsister had introduced her to a federal program called Upward Bound. It places high school students in college dorms during the summer, where they can take classes and participate in workshops on preparing for the SAT and financial literacy. During the school year, students get tutoring and work on what are called "individual success plans."

It's part of a group of federal programs, known as TRIO, aimed at helping low-income and first-generation students earn a college degree, often becoming the first in their families to do so.

So thanks to that advice from her stepsister, Kirsty Beckett, who's now 27 and pursuing a doctorate in psychology, Griffith signed up and found herself in that summer program at Morehead State. Now, Griffith is enrolled at Maysville Community and Technical College, with plans to become an ultrasound technician.

TRIO, once a group of three programs — giving it a name that stuck — is now the umbrella over eight, some dating back to 1965. Together they serve roughly 870,000 students nationwide a year.

It has worked with millions of students and has bipartisan support in Congress. Now, some in this part of the Appalachian region of Kentucky and across the country worry about students who won't get the same assistance if President Trump ends federal spending on the program.

A White House budget proposal would eliminate spending on TRIO. The document says "access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means," and it puts the onus on colleges to recruit and support students.

Advocates note that the programs, which cost roughly $1.2 billion each year, have a proven track record. Students in Upward Bound, for example, are more than twice as likely to earn a bachelor's degree by age 24 than other students from some of the United States' poorest households, according to the Council for Opportunity in Education. COE is a nonprofit that represents TRIO programs nationwide and advocates for expanded opportunities for first-generation, low-income students.

For the high school class of 2022, 74% of Upward Bound students enrolled immediately in college — compared with only 56% of high school graduates in the bottom income quartile.

Students Zoey Griffith (left) and Aniyah Caldwell say the Upward Bound program has been life-changing for them. Upward Bound is one of eight federal programs under the TRIO umbrella.

(

Michael Vasquez

/

The Hechinger Report

)

Upward Bound is for high school students. Another TRIO program, Talent Search, helps middle and high school students, without the residential component. One program called Student Support Services (SSS) provides tutoring, advising and other assistance to at-risk college students. Another program prepares students for graduate school and doctoral degrees, and yet another trains TRIO staff.

A 2019 study found that after four years of college, students in SSS were 48% more likely to complete an associate's degree or certificate, or transfer to a four-year institution, than a comparable group of students with similar backgrounds and similar levels of high school achievement who were not in the program.

"TRIO has been around for 60 years," said Kimberly Jones, the president of COE. "We've produced millions of college graduates. We know it works."

Yet Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the White House refer to the programs as a "relic of the past."

Jones countered that census data shows that "students from the poorest families still earn college degrees at rates far below that of students from the highest-income families," demonstrating continued need for TRIO.

McMahon is challenging that and pushing for further study of those TRIO success rates. In 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that even though the Education Department collects data on TRIO participants, the agency "has gaps in its evidence on program effectiveness." The GAO criticized the Education Department for having "outdated" studies on some TRIO programs and no studies at all for others. Since then, the department has expanded its evaluations of TRIO.

During a Senate subcommittee hearing in June, McMahon acknowledged that "there is some effectiveness of the programs, in many circumstances."

Still, she said there is not enough research to justify TRIO's total cost. "That's a real drawback in these programs," McMahon said.

Now, she is asking lawmakers to eliminate TRIO spending after this year and has already canceled some previously approved TRIO grants.

Opening a door into a broader world

"What are we supposed to do, especially here in eastern Kentucky?" asks David Green, a former Upward Bound participant who is now marketing director for a pair of Kentucky hospitals.

East Main Street in Morehead, Ky., just outside Morehead State University's campus.

(

Michael Vasquez

/

The Hechinger Report

)

Green lives in a region that has some of the nation's highest rates of unemployment, cancer and opioid addiction. "I mean, these people have big hearts — they want to grow," he adds. Cutting these programs amounts to "stifling us even more than we're already stifled."

Green described his experience with TRIO at Morehead State in the mid-1980s as "one of the best things that ever happened to me."

He grew up in a home without running water in Maysville, a city of about 8,000 people. It was on a TRIO trip to Washington, D.C., he recalled, that he stayed in a hotel for the first time. Green remembers bringing two suitcases so he could pack a pillow, sheets and a comforter — unaware the hotel room would have its own.

He met students from other towns and with different backgrounds. Some became lifelong friends. Green learned table manners, the kind of thing often required in business settings. After college, he was so grateful for TRIO that he became one of its tutors, working with the next generation of students.

Uncertain future in Congress

Jones, of the Council for Opportunity in Education, said she is cautiously optimistic that Congress will continue funding TRIO, despite the Trump administration's request. The programs serve students in all 50 states. According to the COE, about 34% are white, 32% are Black, 23% are Hispanic, 5% are Asian and 3% are Native American.

In May, Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, called TRIO "one of the most effective programs in the federal government," which, he said, is supported by "many, many members of Congress."

In June, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia and a former TRIO employee, spoke about its importance to her state. TRIO helps "a student that really needs the extra push, the camaraderie, the community," she said. "I've gone to their graduations, and been their speaker, and it's really quite delightful to see how far they've come in a short period of time."

TRIO survived, with its funding intact, when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its budget last month. The House is expected to take up its version of the annual appropriations bill for education in early September. Both chambers ultimately have to agree on federal spending, a process that could drag on until December, leaving TRIO's fate in Congress uncertain.

While lawmakers debate its future, the Trump administration could also delay or halt TRIO funding on its own. This year, the administration took the unprecedented step of unilaterally canceling about 20 previously approved new and continuing TRIO grants.

A big impact on young lives

At Morehead State, leaders there say the university and the region it serves need the boost received from TRIO: While roughly 38% of American adults have earned at least a bachelor's degree, in Kentucky that figure is only 16%. And locally, it's 7%, according to Summer Fawn Bryant, the director of TRIO's Talent Search programs at the university.

TRIO works to counter the stigma of attending college that still exists in parts of eastern Kentucky, Bryant said, where a student from a humble background who is considering college might be scolded with the phrase: Don't get above your raisin'.

"A parent may say it," Bryant said. "A teacher may say it."

She added that she's seen time and again how these programs can turn around the lives of young students from poor families.

Students like Beth Cockrell, an Upward Bound alum from Pineville, Ky., who said her mom struggled with parenting. "Upward Bound stepped in as that kind of co-parent and helped me decide what my major was going to be."

Cockrell went on to earn three degrees at Morehead State and has worked as a teacher for the past 19 years. She now works with students at her alma mater and teaches third grade at Conkwright Elementary School, about an hour away.

Long-term benefits 

Sherry Adkins, an eastern Kentucky native who attended TRIO more than 50 years ago and went on to become a registered nurse, said efforts to cut TRIO spending ignore the long-term benefits. "Do you want all of these people that are disadvantaged to continue like that? Where they're taking money from society? Or do you want to help prepare us to become successful people who pay lots of taxes?"

As Washington considers TRIO's future, program directors like Bryant, at Morehead State, press forward. She has saved a text message that a former student sent her two years ago to remind her of what's at stake.

After finishing college, the student was attending a conference on child abuse when a presenter showed a slide that included the quote: "Every child who winds up doing well has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult."

"Forever thankful," the student texted Bryant, "that you were that supportive adult for me."

This story about TRIO was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. 
Copyright 2025 Hechinger Report

Alysa Liu’s comeback at this year’s Olympics — and her stunning gold medal win — has rocked the world of figure skating, making headlines due to her joy while performing and her commitment to mental health on and off the ice.

Though she primarily trained in Oakland, Liu, who’s also a psychology student at UCLA, has used a facility in Lakewood as one of her home bases away from home. The 20-year-old started training there as she came back from retirement and prepared to take the gold medal (not that that was necessarily her goal, to hear her tell it).

It’s part of a long history for the Rinks-Lakewood ICE, which has also hosted many champions and Olympians over the years, including Mariah Bell, Nathan Chen, Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon, and counts prominent figure skaters among their staff.

“ We're not unfamiliar with Olympic ties,” said Braden Overett, the skating manager at Lakewood ICE, though he also clarified, “that does not in any way diminish the fun and the coolness [of Liu’s win].”

Lakewood ICE’s place in this year’s Olympics

Working with her coaches remotely, Liu started to drill down on perfecting her skating while also attending classes at UCLA. And though she moved on to her home base at Oakland Ice Center as the Olympic training started to ramp up, the staff who worked with her at Lakewood ICE kept cheering her on.

Overett said that he loves highlighting the Olympic connections at the rink, which may not be obvious to everyone who skates there.

“It's always fun just to connect the dots, right?” Overett said. “It's like going to a restaurant and then you find out later it's your favorite actor's restaurant.”

Ashleigh Ellis runs the nonprofit Unity Ice Academy, which focuses on increasing access to figure skating for kids of all backgrounds at Lakewood ICE.

“ That's just very much how the skating world is. It's very small, you never know who you're going to run into at any time,” Ellis said. “ Could you imagine just being on the ice with a national champion and Olympic skater of any sort? It's just so inspiring for the kids to see that and be within the vicinity of that.”

And Liu wasn’t the only 2026 Olympic figure skater who's used the facility. Li Yu-Hsiang, the Taiwanese national champion who represented Chinese Taipei in Milan this year, also trains in Lakewood.

The rink’s coaches

The small world of skating means that even novice skaters can take classes from world-class skaters: 1976 Olympic silver medalist Dianne de Leeuw teaches there, as do national medalists (and future Olympic contenders) Starr Andrews and Josephine Lee.

 "To get to see them and to get to share ice with them just has a layer of magic that you can't replace and you can't get anywhere else,” Overett said. “ You see the turnover of generations, and it brings in a huge element of history.”

What Liu’s win means for the skating world

Ellis is already using Liu’s example to stress the importance of mental health to the kids and families she works with, like one parent who was worrying about her child taking two weeks off skating due to pneumonia.

“I was like, ‘Alysa Liu took two plus years off and she just won the Olympic gold. Do not worry about it this two weeks,’” she said.

A bipartisan bill aimed at protecting pets during disasters has been introduced in Congress, with a Southern California representative citing the rescue efforts of local organizations during last year’s L.A.-area fires.

The PETSAFE Act of 2026 — which stands for Providing Essential Temporary Shelter Assistance For Emergencies — would expand the use of emergency management funds so local governments can plan for evacuations that move animals to safety, as well as provide veterinary care and rescue equipment during disasters.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) helped introduce the bill earlier this month with several House of Representatives colleagues, including Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida and Democrat Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada.

Chu, who represents Pasadena and Altadena in the 28th Congressional District, said when the Eaton Fire tore through her district, many families delayed evacuations because they couldn’t bear to leave their pets behind.

She told LAist she’ll never forget seeing the cats, dogs and other animals with burned feet and singed fur who were being cared for by Pasadena Humane in the aftermath.

“But to think, if there is even one more thing we could do to keep our precious pets safe, wouldn't we want to do that?” Chu said. “So this PETSAFE Act could go a long way towards making sure that our loved pets can indeed survive a disaster.”

About the bill

Pasadena Humane teams looked for pets and wildlife in Eaton burn zones, dropping off food and water along the way.

(

Courtesy Pasadena Humane

)

The PETSAFE Act now has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The bill would amend the Emergency Management Performance Grant program to increase the federal cost share for certain animal-related preparedness activities from 50% to 90%.

Supporters say this would lower barriers and make it more affordable for communities to roll out emergency protection plans for people and pets.

Specifically, the PETSAFE Act would allow state, local and tribal governments to use grant money awarded by FEMA toward pet supplies, crates, veterinary equipment, emergency generators and training, among others.

Pet owners whose homes are under disaster-related evacuation orders can be faced with an “impossible choice” — leaving their pets behind or staying home with them, which risks the owner’s own safety and complicates rescue efforts for first responders, according to Chu’s office.

The bill aims to address the challenges pet owners and first responders face without authorizing new federal spending, according to Mast’s office.

How we got here 

Chu said local shelters, including Pasadena Humane, and communities across California stepped up to care for all kinds of animals during the Eaton Fire, which ignited in January 2025.

Pasadena Humane helped more than 1,500 pets and wildlife during the fire and in the aftermath by providing shelter, medical care and emergency resources.

A horse was housed in the organization’s garage when Chris Ramon, Pasadena Humane’s president and CEO, ran into its owner walking down Raymond Avenue for miles.

“Part of me likes to think that this won’t happen again,” Ramon told LAist last month. “But the realist in me realizes … disaster preparedness is something that just is an ongoing conversation for us at Pasadena Humane.”

Chu also cited the work of the ASPCA, which helped more than 530 animals during the Eaton Fire, including goats, parakeets, pigs and a gecko, according to the organization.

She said local organizations did “tremendous” work and “lovingly cared for” the rush of animals affected by the fire.

“But what we would want to do is to make sure that there is an even better system for animal evacuation and ways to ensure that pets could be safe,” Chu said, adding that would relieve the burden on places like Pasadena Humane.

Other laws aiming to protect pets

This is not the first time last year’s fires have led to new legislation focused on protecting pets during emergencies.

A new state law known as the FOUND Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, was inspired by Oreo the Pomeranian, who reunited with its Pacific Palisades owner in an emotional, viral video during the Palisades Fire.

The law requires cities and counties to include procedures for rescuing pets during mandatory evacuations in their next emergency plans, which need to be updated every five years to qualify for FEMA assistance.