As MCAN reflects on 15 years of advancing college access in Michigan, we’re reminded that lasting change requires a collaborative effort. It takes schools, communities, statewide networks, advisers, and families working together to help students see what’s possible and navigate a path forward.
That teamwork is at the heart of our partnership with the Michigan Promise Zones Association, a network of communities that provides scholarships and support to help students pursue a postsecondary education. Among the leaders advancing this work is Coco Moulder, executive director of the Pontiac Promise Zone. A former educator with deep roots in southeast Michigan, Coco’s story reflects a simple truth: when students are supported academically, financially, and emotionally — and when they feel they belong — opportunities turn into realities.
Ask Coco Moulder to describe Pontiac in one word, and her answer is immediate: “Resilient.”
Once known across the state for its academic excellence and rigor, Pontiac has weathered decades of change. For Coco, that history — and the community’s persistence through challenge — was all too familiar.
Before leading the Pontiac Promise Zone, Coco worked as an educator in the community, witnessing firsthand the challenges students faced and the potential that existed when they were supported.
“College access returning to this community was pivotal to me,” she recalled. “I wanted to help people believe in postsecondary pathways and see the possibilities that existed for their children.”
Removing Barriers Through Support and Belonging
Promise Zones were created to address the reality that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. In many communities, students are confronted by barriers like tuition costs, complex application processes, limited access to advising, generational gaps in college knowledge, and the weight of being the first in their family to navigate postsecondary education. That’s where Promise Zones step in to support.
A community-based scholarship program that provides eligible students with a “tuition-free” pathway to a college degree, Promise Zones remove financial barriers that stand in the way of postsecondary education.
But scholarships are only part of the equation. In Coco’s eyes, college access requires a coordinated system of support that helps students and families understand what going to college means and what it will take to persist and succeed.
“Financial barriers are just one issue,” she said. “We’re also helping families overcome generational barriers, poverty, and other systemic challenges.”
By pairing scholarships with advising, coaching, and consistent check-ins, Promise Zones help students make decisions about their future with confidence. Even more importantly, they remind students that they are not navigating college alone.
“Our scholars need institutions that embrace them,” Coco emphasized. “Once they step onto a campus, that becomes their new world. If they don’t feel welcomed there or confident in their abilities, success becomes much harder.”
For many students, that shift into a new community can be disorienting. Without someone checking in, helping to make sense of social and academic expectations, or providing reassurance that overcoming challenges is part of the process, doubt can quickly take hold. That’s where advising and wraparound support become essential for both academic success and confidence building.
“Belonging and feeling supported by their community isn’t a bonus,” Coco shared. “It’s what allows students to persist and ultimately succeed.”
Helping Students Forge Their Own Path
One student's story captures the heart of that approach.
A young woman receiving Promise Zone support was attending a public university but struggling academically. After failing the same core courses multiple times, her GPA suffered, and Coco had to make the difficult decision to rescind her scholarship and bring her home.
What followed changed everything.
Through conversations with Coco and a success coach, it became clear the student was pursuing a degree her father wanted for her, not one she was passionate about herself. The pressure to follow her parents’ expectations had become her greatest barrier, leading to stress, sadness, and self-doubt.
After multiple coaching sessions, transferring to a college closer to home, and selecting a program aligned with her own interests, the student began to thrive. She’s now on the college honor roll, and just as importantly, confident in her choice.
“She’s smiling now,” Coco said. “About her decision for her life.”
Coco has seen this transformation many times. For many first-generation students, doubt often fades after the first year once they’ve pushed past the voices questioning whether they belong.
“They don’t always believe it at first, but once they take that first step, they start to see what they’re capable of,” she expressed.
Strength in Statewide Partnership
For Coco, the impact of the Pontiac Promise Zone is strengthened by its connection to a broader statewide effort. While each community faces unique challenges, advancing college access requires coordination, shared learning, and a unified voice.
MCAN plays a critical role in making that possible, according to Coco, by connecting local leaders, aligning advocacy efforts, and ensuring Promise Zones have the support they need to respond to changing student and community needs. That balance between local leadership and statewide coordination allows communities to learn from one another while staying grounded in what works best at home.
“MCAN understands what college access means for communities like ours,” Coco said. “They help carry our message to decision-makers and ensure Promise Zones are part of a larger, coordinated effort.”
Through statewide partnership, local work in places like Pontiac becomes part of a statewide movement — one that elevates community voices and allows equity-focused work to move forward.
A Shared Future of Opportunity
Coco’s vision for Pontiac’s future is expansive. She imagines a next chapter where students pursue postsecondary education alongside their parents, and where credentials become a shared, generational achievement.
Her advice to students who don’t see college as attainable? Take a chance on yourself.
“If you never take that first step, you’re only delaying the journey you could be on,” she remarked. “There’s nothing wrong with stumbling along the way. The only real loss is never trying.”
As MCAN looks ahead to its next 15 years, Coco hopes to see continued momentum around a common agenda centered on Michigan’s most vulnerable students and families. A future where the state is not only educated, but credentialed across every community.
With leaders like Coco Moulder at the helm, driven by opportunity, committed to collaboration, and unwavering in their support of Michigan’s students, that future is already taking shape.
As MCAN reflects on 15 years of advancing college access in Michigan, we’re reminded that lasting change requires a collaborative effort. It takes schools, communities, statewide networks, advisers, and families working together to help students see what’s possible and navigate a path forward.
That teamwork is at the heart of our partnership with the Michigan Promise Zones Association, a network of communities that provides scholarships and support to help students pursue a postsecondary education. Among the leaders advancing this work is Coco Moulder, executive director of the Pontiac Promise Zone. A former educator with deep roots in southeast Michigan, Coco’s story reflects a simple truth: when students are supported academically, financially, and emotionally — and when they feel they belong — opportunities turn into realities.