America’s Promise Alliance, with generous support from AT&T, announced today the selection of five states and communities as GradNation Acceleration Grant recipients, as part of the GradNation campaign to raise the high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020. The chosen grantees represent programs whose efforts are focused on accelerating progress for more young people to high school graduation and post-secondary success.

Joe Louis Barrow Jr., former CEO of The First Tee, and Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF (United Negro College Fund), have been elected to its board of directors. Each will serve a three-year term, effective January 2018.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Education released new data to reflect the latest high school graduation rates. The national rate has reached 84.1 percent for 2016, up from 83.2 percent in 2015.

Washington, D.C. – America’s Promise Alliance, the nation's largest network dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth, is extending the America's Promise Healthy Schools Fund to communities working to create healthier school environments for

The Citi Foundation today announced the launch of the Youth Workforce Fund as part of its Pathways to Progress initiative to provide youth both in the U.S. and around the world with training and access to jobs. In partnership with America’s Promise Alliance, 15 nonprofit organizations across the United States will expand their programming to provide a range of employment opportunities in various areas including environmental sustainability to robotics and culinary arts to coding.

America’s Promise Alliance, the nation’s largest network dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth, has elected three members to its board of directors and appointed two members to its trustees.

As part of the next phase of the GradNation campaign to raise the national high school graduation rate to 90 percent, America’s Promise Alliance, with generous support from AT&T, announced today the launch of the GradNation Acceleration Grant.

This time of year, 12 years ago, Hurricanes Rita and Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast. Houston became the refuge of choice for 60,000 people, over half of whom were school-aged youth. The city opened its arms, homes, schools, and churches, while more kept coming and many never left. Three hundred thousand people eventually chose to call this hospitable city their home. These same souls are now going through it all again.

The Weiss Institute, a new nationwide partnership that helps local communities expand their capacity to support students as they prepare for college and other postsecondary education, announced today that it has selected Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey to be its first president.

The tragic events that took place in Charlottesville over the weekend remind us of the need to stay focused on creating a better, safer world for all young people, and strengthen our resolve to work together toward that goal.