Florida education group Communities in Schools announced Tuesday that it received $500,000 in grants from Bank of America to help reduce the state’s high school dropout rate.
The money will fund services aimed at reducing dropout rates and encouraging academic achievement in partnership with public schools. Services will include mentoring, tutoring, career development, after-school programs, community service, life skills development and financial literacy courses. Each service will be delivered to students through a single point of contact at their schools.
"With the monumental task facing educators today, schools simply cannot meet all the needs of the students alone. The public, private, and nonprofit sectors must increase our collaborative efforts to ensure that Florida’s graduation rate improves," said CIS state director Lois Gracey.
Nearly one third of students fail to graduate each year nationwide, and as many as 1 million Florida students are in danger of not graduating with their peers, according to the nonprofit group.
The grants are broken up into two $200,000 two-year Neighborhoods Builders grants aimed at resolving local issues and one $100,000 grant for the statewide Communities in Schools of Florida group.
"We believe these grants are an investment in Florida’s future – in individual lives, in communities, and in Florida’s ability to have a well-prepared workforce," said Mike Fields, president of Bank of America Florida.
The nonprofit Communities in Schools was started in 1977 by New York City youth worker Bill Miliken to give students the services they need to stay in school. It has since expanded from three prototype groups in New York, Indianapolis and Atlanta to become a national organization serving nearly 1.2 million students in more than 3,250 schools nationwide.