New Survey: As Dropout Numbers Soar to the Highest Rate in 35 Years, Americans Unaware of Epidemic and its Economic Impact

Communities In Schools launches national campaign that draws attention to the issue of high school dropouts through provocative ads

Washington D.C. - April 27, 2005 - Communities In Schools, the nation's leading community-based organization dedicated to helping kids stay in school and prepare for life, today released the findings of a national survey of Americans on the issue of high school dropouts. Communities In Schools commissioned the survey, which was donated by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, and was conducted from January 26 through January 31. Major findings include the fact that only one in 10 Americans believe the dropout problem is a crisis. Although most respondents associated high school dropouts with economic and social problems, they consistently underestimated the actual number of dropouts, and vastly underestimated the percentage of prison inmates who failed to complete high school.

In an effort to educate Americans about the seriousness of this problem, Communities In Schools today also launched Choose Success, a three-year public service advertising campaign. Choose Success is the 28-year-old organization's first national advertising initiative in nearly a decade. The campaign, which was created pro bono by New York advertising agency Shepardson Stern Kaminsky (SS+K), includes television, radio, print, outdoor and Internet advertising.

"This is a national crisis," says Daniel J. Cardinali, national president, Communities In Schools. "The time has come to expand the issue of high school dropouts from a concern about helping individual youth to a much broader societal issue. We have to do something to grab people's attention, because one out of three students in America is dropping out of school. Some people may not be able to see the impact today, but it will be hard to miss in a few years. We are facing a major labor crisis, not to mention a loss in tax revenue - because if we keep on this path, one in five Americans will never enter the labor force."

Eight of 10 respondents favored an increase in government funding and alternative, small schools as solutions to this escalating problem. According to the survey, 76 percent of Americans believe there is a connection between crime and dropping out, and 69 percent believe there is a correlation between dropouts and welfare costs. Yet, surprisingly, only 45 percent realized that the high number of dropouts will significantly decrease Social Security revenue. The survey underscores the need for a public awareness campaign on the issue, and the need to get more people involved in finding a solution.

Unlike most nonprofit public awareness campaigns, Choose Success incorporates startling, life-like images. "These are not warm, fuzzy ads," says Lenny Stern, CEO, SS+K. "But neither is the problem." Each television spot opens with a two-person dramatic situation that has the potential for disaster: a doctor working on an emergency room gunshot-wound victim…a drug-addicted panhandler approaching a woman on her way to work…a police helicopter chasing down a criminal. At the end of each spot, the viewer discovers that each pair - doctor and victim, addict and businesswoman, criminal and police officer -- are the same person, with the same name.

"By showing how an individual with talent and potential could be led down two completely different paths, we have found a way to clearly demonstrate what a big difference a program like Communities In Schools could make in a child's life," says Stern, who serves on Communities In Schools' national Board of Directors.

Through donated media spots from Cox Communications, 64,000 television ads will run on Cox cable networks throughout the country. Clear Channel radio stations have also donated nearly $500,000 in airtime in several U.S. markets. This donation is valued at more than $1 million. In addition, Bloomberg has provided pro bono advertising spots during the Bloomberg Market Minute, and on Bloomberg Television in markets throughout the country.

All of the public service ads of the Choose Success campaign—television, radio, print, banner and outdoor—are available in Spanish.

Founded in 1977, Communities In Schools is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Today, more than two million young people every year have access to services through over 200 local and state Communities In Schools affiliates in 28 states. For two years in a row, Worth magazine named Communities In Schools one of the 100 top nonprofits in America.

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