$2.6M in expenses
College access - see schedule oachieve atlanta works with atlanta public schools and provides strategic, financial, and operational support to design and implement a district-wide college advising program. As part of this effort, achieve atlanta has engaged the college advising corps to provide college advisers across all high schools that support 11th and 12th graders with the technical aspects of the college-going process (e.g., researching colleges, applying to college, registering for college entrance exams, applying for financial aid and scholarships). In addition, achieve atlanta has engaged onegoal, INC. To work with cohorts of students at various high schools through a credit-bearing elective course designed to build academic skills and teach students to anticipate and overcome roadblocks on the path to college graduation. Finally, achieve atlanta provides technical assistance, data analyses, and college access-related training to district, high school, and partner staff in support of the program.
$1.7M in expenses
College affordability - see schedule oachieve atlanta works with atlanta public schools and its external partners to provide information, training, and tools that ensure students make informed decisions about college costs and access funding to support those costs. In addition, achieve atlanta provides the state's largest need-based scholarship to support atlanta public schools students pursuing various postsecondary education paths after high school. For students attending a four-year college, the achieve atlanta scholarship is worth up to $5,000 per year, renewable for up to four years of school. For students attending a two-year or technical college, the award is up to $1,500 per year, renewable for up to two years of school. Achieve atlanta also provides emergency grants of up to $500 to support students faced with an unexpected financial need to allow them to stay on track in college, as well as completion grants for some students who have exhausted their achieve atlanta scholarship but need assistance to complete up to two more terms. These scholarships and grants are meant to help close the financial gaps students face when paying for college.
$1.4M in expenses
College success - see schedule oachieve atlanta has established formal relationships with 11 georgia colleges and universities to streamline advising and coaching services for atlanta public schools graduates attending one of these institutions. Achieve atlanta has also contracted with beyond 12 and edu-tech enterprises, two college success nonprofits, to provide coaching and advising to atlanta public school graduates while they are in college. In addition, achieve atlanta has developed a peer-ambassador program and established mental health support and an emergency grant program. Collectively, these efforts are intended to increase the rates of college persistence and completion for atlanta public school graduates and put them on a pathway to upward mobility. To date, achieve atlanta scholars are persisting and graduating year to year at similar rates to students of all income levels enrolled in the university system of georgia.
— in expenses
Career supportsour alumni's experiences and outcomes have helped us see that a postsecondary degree alone is often not enough to put a scholar on a path to upward mobility, which is central to our vision. In response, we have built a program to integrate career supports more intentionally into the scholar journey. In the first year of our career supports programming, we are coordinating and maximizing the career resources already available to scholars through our current college and career partners and partnership modelto increase utilization, quality, and equitable access to career coaching, skills, and experiences. An example of this is evident in our collaboration with bravenx to increase the number of scholars participating in their career accelerator program. While we are maximizing existing resources, we are also identifying gaps and exploring new partnerships, resources, and approaches to improve the early career outcomes of our alumni.