A national nonprofit, College For Every Student (CFES), is searching for five schools to participate in a high-impact program that will help low-income students become college and career ready. The five schools will receive Closing the Gap awards through support from private donors.
“Over the last 30 years, the gap in college going and degree attainment between youth from low-income households and their higher income peers has widened steadily,” said CFES president and CEO Rick Dalton. “Today wealthy students are ten times more likely to earn a college degree than their classmates from poverty. Unless we close this gap, the consequences will be catastrophic.”
CFES, which has helped 75,000 low-income students from 700 schools become college ready over the last 24 years, has committed to scale up and help one million low-income youth attain college degrees by 2025.
“The Closing the Gap awards are part of this commitment,” said Dalton.
Educators, volunteers, and other partners who work with CFES Scholars receive ongoing professional development in building their program and they become part of a supportive global network. Ninety-nine percent of CFES Scholars graduate from high school and 95 percent attend college.
Every CFES Scholar engages in three high-impact practices - Mentoring, Leadership Through Service, and Pathways to College. Research has shown these practices develop The Essential Skills, including raised aspirations, adaptability, grit, resilience, teamwork, leadership, and other competencies that promote social and educational uplift.
Details on the Closing The Gap awards, including an application, can be found at www.collegefes.org.
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