MATTHEW'S SUCCESS STORY:

In 2008 Matthew was a typical 20 year old student at Rhode Island College. He had two years worth of credits under his belt and was looking forward to completing his degree in Communications. At the time he resided with his elderly and economically fragile parents. While a fulltime student, Matt also worked as a construction laborer to help support his mother and father. Struggling to pay for school, Matt did not have the resources for both a car and an education. He therefore used public transportation to get to school and job sites. Despite having been diagnosed with a learning disability and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at a young age, Matt learned how to accommodate both to maximize his success at school …that is until an incident occurred that would change his life forever.

In March of that year, Matt was mugged and beaten by a group of men. Since he was on his own, he got the worst of it and spent several days in the hospital with a concussion and multiple contusions. The beating was so severe that it left Matt with a traumatic brain injury. This development, compounded by his existing disabilities, was just too much for Matt to work around. As a result he started to have difficulty in his classes and soon found the course work to be too fast paced and stressful. Matt could no longer remember multi-step instructions, had difficulty concentrating and just couldn’t absorb the material. He discontinued his dream of a higher education and a better life for him and his family.