For Immediate Release
Monday, September 26, 2011
America’s Promise Alliance Receives $3 Million Grant from Target to Support Grad Nation Campaign
Target Joins Powell Leadership Circle, Supporting Business Engagement and Knowledge Sharing around Dropout Crisis
WASHINGTON – America’s Promise Alliance (the Alliance) today announced it has received a $3 million grant from Target to support its Grad Nation Campaign, a 10-year initiative to end the dropout crisis and better prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. With this three year grant, Target will:
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Support the development and deployment of the Grad Nation Knowledge Center. The Knowledge Center is an online information portal for communities to acquire, interpret and use local knowledge and evidence-based best practices to support dropout prevention and youth development efforts.
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Be the premier sponsor of the Grad Nation Business Collaborative and;
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Be the premier sponsor of the 2012 Building a Grad Nation Summit.
With this level of commitment, Target joins the Powell Leadership Circle. Named after Alliance Founding Chair General Colin Powell and current Chair Alma Powell, the Powell Leadership Circle is an elite group of foundation, corporate and individual philanthropists who have donated $1 million or more per year to support the Alliance’s work.
“Target’s commitment to communities and education—especially K-3 literacy— is well known and at a level that truly sets them apart in the world of corporate philanthropy,” said Marguerite W. Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance. “Target understands that by investing in our young people we are contributing to the strengthening of communities and that’s good for business. This partnership will help communities access the best information we have on how to improve outcomes for young people and engage more business partners in this work.”
“Target is committed to doing its part to address the education crisis in America and we are honored to work with America’s Promise Alliance on innovative solutions that will put more kids on the path to high school graduation ready for college, a career and life,” said Laysha Ward, president, Target Community Relations. “At Target, we are focusing our efforts to ensure children reach the critical academic milestone of reading proficiently by the end of third grade.”
The Grad Nation Knowledge Center will provide communities and programs with links to community data and best practices through interactive tools and visuals. The Knowledge Center will also serve as support for community strategic planning, goal-setting, implementation and data reporting on issues around youth development and dropout prevention.
The Grad Nation Business Collaborative project will bring together local and national business leaders for a series of roundtables to examine how the business community can better support school transformation and greater student supports, especially for those schools identified as lowest performing. The first roundtable will be held in early 2012. The second annual Building a Grad Nation Summit will be held in March 2012 in Washington, D.C. Target will serve as a premier sponsor of this event, which will bring together nearly 1,000 people from across the country together with the nation’s best thought leaders in education, government, business and nonprofit sectors to discuss solutions to the high school dropout crisis.
Launched in March 2010 with the support of President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Grad Nation is the second phase of the Alliance’s highly successful Dropout Prevention Campaign launched in April 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, the Alliance sponsored and helped co-convene 105 Dropout Prevention Summits in all 50 states bringing more than 40,000 policy, business, education, community and faith leaders together with nonprofits, parents and young people to discuss the dropout crisis in their communities and begin a dialogue on solutions around it.
For more information on the Grad Nation Campaign visit: www.americaspromise.org.
For more information about Target’s commitment to education visit: www.target.com/hereforgood.
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About America’s Promise Alliance
America’s Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest partnership organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth by raising awareness, supporting communities, and engaging in nonpartisan advocacy. Through our Grad Nation campaign, we harness the collective power of our partner network to mobilize Americans to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. Building on the legacy of our Founding Chairman General Colin Powell, the Alliance believes the success of our young people is grounded in the Five Promises—caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others. For more information about America’s Promise Alliance, visit www.americaspromise.org.