Additional $3 million investment to support a new cohort of 12 organizations focused on innovative, scalable approaches to help connect low-income youth to career opportunities

The Citi Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance today announced that 12 nonprofit organizations have been selected as recipients of the Youth Opportunity Fund, a $3 million initiative to support city-level, innovative and scalable programs connecting more than 3,500 youth to opportunities that increase their employability and prepare them for lifelong success. 

Nationwide survey of homeless students and school liaisons highlights challenges and opportunities, just as ESSA requires districts and states – for the first time – to report high school graduation rates for homeless students.

Even as the nation reaches an all-time record graduation rate of 82.3 percent, low-graduation-rate high schools – a key focus of the recently passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – pose a significant roadblock to the national goal of a 90 percent graduation rate for all students. While the number of low-graduation-rate high schools has declined considerably over the past decade, in some states they still predominate.

Blended learning programs, which combine in-person and online or virtual instruction and support, have emerged as a promising way to meet the needs of young adults looking for an alternative on-ramp to a high school diploma, according to a report released today by the Center for Promise, the Boston University-based research institute for America’s Promise Alliance.

Today, the Citi Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance announced the 2016 Youth Opportunity Fund, a grant program to support local, innovative programs that prepare low-income youth for today's workforce.

WASHINGTON – America’s Promise Alliance, the largest network of national organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth, announced today that Brandee McHale, president of the Citi Foundation, and Javier Alberto Soto, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation, have been elected to its board of directors. Their three-year terms begin in April.

While U.S. high school graduation rates continue to rise, new data released today by Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center, as part of the GradNation campaign, highlight sobering gaps for key student populations in dozens of states.

General Colin L. Powell and Alma J. Powell to Host Second Annual Promise Night Awards on April 20, 2016 at the Howard Theatre.

Initiatives in Arizona, Massachusetts and Minnesota will each receive $200,000 to fund a multi-year effort to raise statewide graduation rates.