America’s Promise Alliance Holds Summit in Cleveland
5/29/2009
By Colleen Wilber
On May 22 & 23, nearly 1,000 people visited the Cleveland Convention Center in Ohio to take part in the city’s Dropout Prevention Summit and Youth and Family Empowerment Conferences. The Alliance’s 38th summit, the Cleveland Dropout Prevention Summit was convened by City Year Cleveland and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District with the support of the world renowned Cleveland Clinic and AT&T Ohio.
The two events brought together community and business leaders, educators, families, and students with Dr. Bill Cosby, Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland Schools CEO Dr. Eugene T.W. Sanders, Buffalo Bills Donte Witner and many others to discuss the city’s growing dropout crisis and generate solutions that Cleveland can implement to keep young people in school. Sessions were held on topics including career exploration and service opportunities for young people, best practices and early warning programs that work, in-school and out-of-school programs available in Cleveland, community health issues, parental engagement, the role of the business community, and conversations with community leaders who are making a difference in Cleveland education.
America’s Promise Alliance President and CEO Marguerite Kondracke gave the closing keynote address where she called the attendees to action, citing the economic costs to the city and nation resulting from a high dropout rate.
“Graduation rates are the first step to creating a Cleveland we all can be proud of,” Kondracke said. “There is no better anti-poverty program, no better prescription for improving the health of this city, no better community improvement program than the work you are involved in today.”
Dr. Bill Cosby addressed parents and community leaders at the Family and Youth Empowerment Conferences, referencing his bestselling book, Come On People and urging the attendees to take the information learned over the two days back into their communities to help young people succeed.
According to the Alliance’s Cities in Crisis report, Cleveland Metropolitan Public Schools had an on-time graduation rate in 2005 of 34 percent, the second lowest in the country. The city also has the largest gap in graduation rates between urban and suburban schools of 43 percent.
The Cleveland summit conveners are already working to improve these numbers and have set a post-summit goal of increasing the city’s graduation rate by 75 percent by 2012.