Education - Ensuring Academic Opportunity and Success for All Children and Youth
The Need
· The high school dropout rate among minority groups is over 30 percent in Orange County. [The Education Trust]
· Over 16,000 Orange County youth are dropping out of high school over a four year period of time, with Hispanics accounting for the highest number of drop outs at 62 percent, followed by Caucasians at 22 percent. [Conditions of Children]
· If you multiply this by the average amount of $209,000 that each high school dropout costs the public sector in a lifetime it amounts to a steep cost of over $3 billion. [Conditions of Children]
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Nationally, 34 percent of high school graduates are not college ready. [The Manhattan Institute]
Addressing the Need
Orange County United Way supports the academic success of youth from early childhood education through high school graduation. OCUW is working with local school districts and nonprofit partners to ensure that every child in Orange County has access to quality education. Successful mastery of educational concepts during each school year, Pre-K through 12th grade, is critical to the healthy development of our youth and the community.
Orange County United Way Strategic Approaches
Community Impact Competitive Grant Program
OCUW’s Competitive Grant Program provides grant support to leading nonprofit programs under the following strategies:
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0-5 early child education programs that directly enhance the cognitive and social development of at-risk children and ensures their successful transition into Kindergarten.
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K-12 youth education programs that directly improve the academic success of at-risk Kindergarten through 12th grade students by improving grade appropriate reading and/or mathematics and/or science skills; align with A-G requirements; work in coordination with local schools; and/or increase parent engagement in their child's academic success.
Click here to review a listing of 2010 Community Impact Grant Partner Agencies.
Other Strategic Community Partnerships
• Orange County Quality Improvement System (OCQIS)
• Orange County Child Care Connections Collaborative
• Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Program
• Latino Education Attainment Program
Orange County United Way's Education Initiative
Destination Graduation
Orange County United Way’s Education Initiative, “Destination Graduation” is a unique countywide partnership between OCUW and the Orange County Department of Education that will provide at-risk high school students (often the first in their family to go to college) and their teachers with an enhanced academic program, career exploration opportunities, parental engagement trainings and exposure to local Orange County corporations. Destination Graduation has been developed to reach 1,600 at-risk students at 10 targeted high schools during the 2010/2011 school year in the high need communities of Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano with the goal of graduating students who are both college and career ready.
Click here to read the Executive Summary.
For more information about Destination Graduation, please e-mail Karen Francis at KarenF@UnitedWayOC.org.
