Addressing the Dropout Crisis in Our Cities

About this grant

This grant will enable five cities – Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, and San Jose, California – to implement strategies and action plans to improve the educational options and outcomes of out-of-school and underserved youth. The strategies and action plans will draw on activities completed during the initial 18 months of the multi-phase initiative. In addition, this grant also will provide support for two additional sites – Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. – that have shadowed the work of the original five sites and assist them in developing a strategic plan and timeline to improve supports and options for out-of-school youth in their communities.In late 2004, in partnership with the Youth Transition Funders Group, the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth funded efforts in the five cities to develop strategies to reconnect dropouts and near dropouts with quality learning opportunities, develop data systems to guide and assess such strategies, and raise the visibility of the dropout crisis and its impact on out-of-school youth.