AT&T Consumer Blog -- Helping Students Graduate: One Community at a Time

DALLAS, Aug. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T (NYSE: T), we're all about raising the bar.  In education, that means being part of a national movement to set big goals for improving student success.  It's an effort that starts locally, at the school around the corner or the community center down the street. 

That's why we're announcing our support for 47 local organizations across the United States that are helping students succeed in their communities.  From coast to coast, these schools and non-profits have proven that they are the best of the best when it comes to keeping kids who are at-risk of dropping out of high school on a path to receiving that cap and gown. 

Back in March, we announced an expansion to our Aspire program, bringing our total planned investment in improving high school retention and college and career readiness up to $350 million.  AT&T Aspire drives innovation in education to help every student graduate from high school equipped with the skills they need to power the nation's workforce.

A key way we can achieve this goal is by working with community-based organizations that deliver real results.  Local organizations are on the front lines of education each and every day, and they know what approaches work best for students in their communities.  While thousands of organizations expressed interest in our local impact request for proposal, the 47 recipient organizations truly stood out from the pack when it came to using data to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs.

Working with an independent evaluation firm, we're raising the bar for evidence-based funding, and are doing our part to help make education a more data-driven enterprise.  If we can check an electric car's charge remotely and know where our holiday package is en route from the post office to grandma's house, then we can surely do a better job at tracking students' progress.  Through this process, we'll be doing just that by developing tailored on-track indicators and comparing participant success to similarly situated peer groups.

We're confident that the dedication of these 47 organizations—and others like them—will help us meet the Grad Nation campaign goal of a 90% graduation rate by 2020.  But we know that they can't do it alone.  That's why we're investing almost $10 million in them today, so they can scale up, reach more kids, and help us reach our national goal. 

Please join us as we unveil and applaud the recipients of these local impact contributions.  Though we'll be unveiling them through early October, we do want to give you just a glimpse at what's to come ... So check out the list of locations below to see where these recipients are located, and be watching as we announce the winner(s) in a town near you!  

Can't wait to see who the winners are?  You can take action now to raise funds and help solve the dropout crisis by visiting our Connect for Good community on Causes.com, where you can share your stories about what you're doing help students in your community achieve success.

Auburn, Alabama
Baltimore, Maryland
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Boston, Massachusetts
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chicago, Illinois
Cleveland, Ohio
Cooper City, Florida
Dearborn, Michigan
Dover, Delaware
Farmington, New Mexico
Gainesville, Florida
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Greensboro, North Carolina
Hartford, Connecticut
Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Issaquah, Washington
Jackson, Mississippi
Jacksonville, Florida
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Missouri
Las Vegas, Nevada
Little Rock, Arkansas
Los Angeles, California
Marietta, Georgia
Miami, Florida
New Haven, Connecticut
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Pasadena, California
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Prestonsburg, Kentucky
Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico
Queens, New York
Richmond, Virginia
San Francisco, California
Santa Rosa, California
Schenectady, New York
Seattle, Washington
Sumter, South Carolina
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Vallejo, California
West-Helena, Arkansas

Beth Shiroishi is AT&T Vice President - Sustainability and Philanthropy

SOURCE AT&T Inc.