AT&T Aspire: Supporting High School Dropout Prevention Summits
Through AT&T Aspire, AT&T is helping to underwrite 100 Dropout Prevention Summits across the country. The summits — led by America's Promise Alliance — will bring together communities to discuss local educational challenges and identify possible solutions. Participants include educators, parents, community leaders and local policymakers.
Specifically, the summits will serve as a call to action, with the goal of increasing the high school graduation rate across the United States. They will have an emphasis on ensuring that young people are ready for college, work and life. Each summit will also include a youth voice and youth leadership rolls, including the planning of the summits, visible speaking roles and follow-up activities.
At each individual summit, the four priorities that will be emphasized are:
- Engaging key constituencies. This includes elected officials, educators, administrators and leaders from business and philanthropy.
- Raising awareness. This includes engaging participants, addressing local youth needs and discussing possible solutions.
- Setting policy priorities. Local communities will use the 10-point plan identified in the seminal education study, "The Silent Epidemic."
- Planning and committing to the plan. This includes identifying post-summit actions that will achieve measurable results.
