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This Back-to-School Season, Let’s Not Forget that Hope Matters

September 06, 2018

As millions of young people begin a new school year, many parents and adults are no doubt worried about how well they’ll fare. From concerns about screen time to college and career readiness, there are plenty of headlines that fret over the well-being of young people.

Type: Opinion

promises: Caring Adults, Safe Places, Opportunities to Help Others, A Healthy Start, Effective Education

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign

I Was a Homeless Student and School Helped Me Find My Way Home

July 10, 2018

I first experienced homelessness with my family, then on my own. I was born to a single mother and a father who was absent because of post-traumatic stress disorder he developed after the war. Throughout my childhood, my mother, two sisters and I moved from home to home, sometimes not having one at all.

Type: Opinion

TAG: Homeless Youth, Special Populations

promises: Effective Education, Safe Places, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign, Youth Voice: Homelessness

Why Pathways Matter

May 17, 2018

When America’s Promise talks about pathways, we’re often talking about the experiences, programs, or initiatives that help prepare young people for life after high school—often while they’re still in it. Since pathways are a key part of our GradNation Action Platform, and because it’s a term we use quite a lot, we think it’s worth exploring a little more.

Type: Opinion

TAG: Career Pathways

promises: Effective Education, Caring Adults, Safe Places, A Healthy Start, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign, GradNation State Activation

Action Platform: Pathways

Mentorships Critical to the Success of the 21st Century Workforce

February 28, 2018

America’s Promise and Milton Hershey School call on schools and other organizations to better collaborate by establishing partnerships that share knowledge, teach essential workplace skills, and create lifelong role models for the young people who make up our next workforce. We all have an obligation to prepare young adults for the competitive global job market they will enter post-graduation.

Type: Opinion

promises: A Healthy Start, Caring Adults, Effective Education, Safe Places, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign

The Power of a Single Word

December 07, 2017

As 2017 comes to a close, we’ve gathered a handful of the stories that capture the kind of tough but important work that people across the country do with and for young people every day. If you’re tired of bleak headlines filling your newsfeed and want examples of how to enact positive change in ways both big and small, check out a few of our favorites from the last year.

Type: Opinion

promises: Caring Adults, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: Recommit2Kids, GradNation Campaign

Youth Voice: I am Not Your Good Immigrant

November 14, 2017

I am not better nor am I worse than the other 10.2 million undocumented immigrants that were not granted this protection in the first place. I am not the “Good Immigrant.” I am not the “Dreamer.” Our parents, our families, those who made the decision to come to a country in which they are criminalized, they are the original dreamers. Not us.

Type: Opinion

TAG: Special Populations

promises: Caring Adults, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign, GradNation State Activation

Youth Voice: When Guidance Counselors Fail Their Students

November 02, 2017

In the spring of my junior year of high school, I planned a meeting with my guidance counselor. We were set to go over my college application plans in preparation for the upcoming school year.

Type: Opinion

TAG: Youth Voice

promises: Opportunities to Help Others, Caring Adults

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign

The Next Phase of the GradNation Campaign

September 18, 2017

How can we help young people dealing with violence and trauma at home succeed in the classroom? As we enter the final stretch of the GradNation campaign, where should we focus most of our energy? The answers can be found in the new GradNation Action Platform, a set of six action areas for states and communities to raise graduation rates and support student success.

Type: Opinion

promises: Effective Education, Caring Adults, A Healthy Start, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign

Action Platform: Central Georgia Technical College Foundation , Pathways, Greater Stark County Urban League, School Climate, Youth Re-Engagement

Youth Voice: We Must Never Give Up

July 11, 2017

Whether it’s learning English or challenging the negative stereotypes of being an immigrant, one young man demonstrates the importance of persistence, courage, and hope in hard times in this moving personal narrative.

Type: Opinion

TAG: Special Populations, English Learners

promises: Caring Adults, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: Center for Promise, GradNation Campaign

Overcoming Fear: Mentoring's Challenges and Rewards

June 28, 2017

“What is an irrational fear you have?” This was a question I asked Manuel,* a tenth-grade student I mentored during my year of service as a City Year Los Angeles AmeriCorps member. It was part of a game I introduced to get him engaged in our time together.

Type: Opinion

promises: Caring Adults, Opportunities to Help Others

campaigns & initiatives: GradNation Campaign