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Supporting education: AT&T Aspire
For more than 25 years, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have been committed to strengthening communities through advancing education. In 2008, we launched AT&T Aspire, specifically focused on confronting the high school dropout crisis to help ensure that students graduate prepared for the future challenges of continuing education and the workforce. An educated workforce for the future is not only critical to the success of our nation, but to the success of our company as well. We need these students to power the possibility economy of today — and more importantly — of tomorrow.
Nearly one fourth of all students — and nearly 40 percent of African-American, Hispanic and Native American students — fail to graduate with their class. Through Aspire, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation are working to help reverse this trend by identifying programs that work and bringing them to scale, supporting the work of educators and helping students get excited about setting and achieving their goals.
With our nation's future global economic competitiveness at stake, AT&T has made Aspire the biggest and most significant education initiative in the company's history, and one of the largest corporate commitments of its kind.
In March 2012, we announced a new $250 million financial commitment planned over 5 years. This built on more than $100 million invested since 2008. Learn more about the new commitment at www.att.com/education.
In 2011, Aspire focused on:
Advancing Understanding
- America's Promise Alliance Dropout Prevention Summits: AT&T supported 105 state and community Dropout Prevention Summits to explore the high school dropout crisis and ways to address it. By the end of 2010, 32,500 stakeholders from all sectors of society participated in the summits. Each community has produced its own action plan, with tactics to ensure continued focus on resolving the underlying dropout issues.
- Underwriting of national research: We funded research that explored the perspectives of practitioners (i.e., teachers, principals, superintendents, school counselors and school board members), parents and students on the high school dropout issue. AT&T worked closely with John Bridgeland of Civic Enterprises, Hart Research and America's Promise Alliance to publish the report Raising Their Voices: Engaging Students, Teachers, and Parents to Help End the High School Dropout Epidemic in March 2010. The report is the fourth in a series of ground-breaking studies by these authors that examines the causes of the dropout crisis, while working to identify solutions. View the high school dropout report toolkit.
In November 2010, research funded by AT&T, Target and the Pearson Foundation was released showing some of the first positive signs that America is making progress in reducing the number of students who drop out of high school. The new report, Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, was released by America's Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to the new research, a Civic Marshall Plan was introduced comprising organizations with a significant institutional reach into school districts and states to address the dropout epidemic by focusing on the recommendations in the Building a Grad Nation report. AT&T is proud to be a member of this coalition. Find out more about the Civic Marshall Plan.
More of What Works
- Communities in Schools: In 2010, AT&T invested $1.5 million in Communities In Schools to increase the number of school-based site coordinators who help the most at-risk students get the resources they need to stay in school and succeed.
- High School Success Grants: Eighty-two local community programs initially funded in 2008 by AT&T Foundation grants completed their second round of our evaluation process in 2010. During this round we enhanced the evaluation process to include additional data collection and reporting capacity-building training to help organizations demonstrate the effectiveness of their interventions to AT&T and others through measurable changes in student progress.
Youth and Family Engagement
- 'My Idea': In March 2010, AT&T launched the 'My Idea' initiative with America's Promise Alliance to empower and encourage young people to develop and carry out programs that keep their peers in school. One hundred and ten students nationwide received funding for their own dropout prevention projects as part of the $1 million initiative.
- Family Engagement for High School Success Program: In 2010, AT&T continued work with United Way Worldwide on the Family Engagement for High School Success Program, designed to strengthen local United Way and other nonprofit-led programs to engage parents and other adult caregivers with schools to increase the effectiveness of their children's education.
Career Exploration
- AT&T/Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide Job Shadow Initiative: By the end of 2010, the job shadow initiative reached more than 65,000 students in more than 211 cities. AT&T employees have volunteered more than 24,000 times for Job Shadow, dedicating nearly 200,000 volunteer hours, to help students learn. By the initiative's conclusion, 100,000 students will have been provided with the opportunity to learn more about career options and what it takes to be successful in today's workforce.
- Roadtrip Nation Experience: AT&T continued to support Roadtrip Nation's innovative career exploration programming with funding for a new online interactive curriculum that facilitates self-discovery, inspiring students to take the educational steps required to identify and achieve their career goals.
Through Aspire, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation will continue to work together with educators, parents, organizations and government to be a catalyst for change on this issue.
Learn more about our AT&T Aspire initiative.
