Engaging Communities for College Readiness (ENCORE) is a program developed in 2007 by Texas Valley Communities Foundation in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ENCORE's primary goal is to ensure that all students in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) graduate from high school fully prepared for college, work, and life.

ENCORE has established key partnerships with public school districts and private schools to develop and implement the ENCORE Career Awareness and Mentorship Program (CAMP), a research-data driven program designed to improve educational achievement by providing students and their families a significant college and career readiness experience.

The mission of the ENCORE CAMP is for students and their parents to understand the importance and benefits of a college education by exploring different careers paths in the areas of science, technology, engineering, math and business during non-school hours. Students explore professional careers through mentoring experiences and inquiry-based interactive activities throughout the ENCORE CAMP experience.

The goals of the ENCORE CAMP Program are to:

• Promote the importance of higher education and college readiness to students and parents by increasing student awareness on different career opportunities
• Motivate students and parents to work collaboratively with schools in the college readiness process
• Provide guidance and support for parents to ensure their children are ready for a college education and the workforce