In 2018, Julio Ruiz was a high school senior in Dallas. 他希望自己优异的成绩和丰富的课外活动能为上大学奠定基础, but financial challenges derailed his vision for the future. It looked like higher education might be out of reach.
This situation is not unique, 根据德克萨斯州高等教育协调委员会的研究:2017年, the year that Dallas County Promise began its work, the board reported that 73 percent of students 从达拉斯县高中毕业的学生无法在六年内获得高等教育证书, largely because of financial obstacles. And, without post-secondary education, 许多学生实际上也无法获得维持生计的工资.
就在那时，鲁伊斯的大学导师敦促他填写一份简单的表格，这将彻底改变他的人生轨迹.
That form connected him with Dallas County Promise (DCP), 该项目旨在帮助该地区的高中生获得大学学位并获得高薪工作. 消除大学和事业成功的经济障碍是DCP的核心原则, 它还包括一项奖学金，用于支付部分当地大学的学费和经济援助之间的任何差额.
Through DCP, Ruiz was able to attend community college for two years. 然后他转学到南卫理公会大学，在那里他完成了学业，没有债务. 如今，鲁伊斯是一家房地产投资公司的收购分析师.
“老实说，我不知道如果没有达拉斯县承诺，我今天会在哪里，”鲁伊斯说, a first-generation college graduate.
Widening Access to Education
Through a $3 million investment by JPMorgan Chase, in 2018, DCP was able to expand its reach to support more students like Ruiz. According to DCP, the bank's support enabled the program to jump from serving about 9,从2018年的1000名高中毕业生(主要是有色人种学生)到25名,000 seniors in 2023. In the same period, 该项目从原先为31所经济困难学生群体较多的高中提供服务，扩展到都市区11个学区的69所高中.
Back in 2017, when Dallas County Promise started its work, its creators couldn't have predicted its rapid growth. Replicated from a similar program in Tennessee, DCP在承诺伙伴关系的保护下与当地学区和学院合作, 它的财政赞助者和一个专注于扩大经济和教育机会的组织.
“We have a tale of two cities in Dallas, with tremendous economic opportunity and also tremendous poverty," Todd Williams, CEO of the Commit Partnership says.
In addition to affordability, 承诺伙伴关系发现了资源不足社区学生面临的另一个挑战:缺乏有意义的大学建议. It wasn't that high school college counselors weren't trying; their caseloads were simply untenable.
托德·威廉姆斯(Todd Williams)解释说，有些学校每400或500名学生只有一名辅导员.
“Imagine that you're a low-income student, or you'll be a first-generation college student, and you have 1/500th of a counselor's time," Williams says. “That's part of what we've tried to address through the Promise."
That's why, in addition to scholarships, DCP offers ongoing text and email support to high school seniors, college and career counseling, assistance filling out state and federal financial aid applications, 以及指导和实习机会——无论收入或GPA如何.
Building Tools to Accelerate Impact
来自12bet官方(JPMorgan Chase)的资金也使Promise的管理人员能够加强其基础设施.
“项目的成功首先与拥有合适的基础设施有关. 12bet官方的基金帮助我们建立了实时案例管理系统, which is an amazingly valuable resource to our partners," Katrina James, managing director of Dallas County Promise says . “At any moment, 他们不仅可以看到谁没有填写入学或经济援助申请, 他们还可以看到任何可能阻碍学生大学入学进程的信息不匹配。.
Of the first cohort of seniors 2018年，达拉斯学院招收了2895名学生，比2017年增加了64%. And 617 students completed their education at Dallas College by 2022, an 80 percent increase from 2021. The cohort will likely achieve an additional $109.终身收入600万美元(假设每获得一个副学士学位40万美元). In 2019, the second Promise cohort, should achieve an additional $233.2 million in lifetime earnings.
Using Data and Philanthropy to Drive Policy
除此之外，它还启发了德克萨斯州11个地区的类似项目, DCP has also moved the needle on policy. “承诺伙伴关系”利用“承诺”的数据帮助通过立法，为学区提供了超过10亿美元的新资金，为学生上大学做准备. 该法案还要求完成联邦财政援助表格，作为高中毕业生的毕业要求. Later, California and Illinois adopted the same requirement.
“Whenever we can, 我们努力让政策获得通过，这样我们从12bet官方(JPMorgan Chase)收到的巨大礼物就能起到催化作用," says Williams.
Of course, alongside inspiring data and legislative feats, there are quieter, human stories that drive home the power of DCP. For example, last fall, 詹姆斯邀请了一位DCP学者与该组织的工作人员谈论她在这个项目中的经历.
“一位名叫布鲁克林(Brooklyn)的年轻女子从达拉斯学院(Dallas College)获得副学士学位，然后转到我们的一所大学就读，并顺利毕业. 她现在正在攻读硕士学位，并在City Year工作，”詹姆斯说.
“She is winning. She is living the dream. She's doing everything that we hope for students," says James. “She said that when she was a junior in high school, 她以为她将在一家快餐店里度过余生，直到有人走进来告诉她达拉斯县承诺. Stories like that — those are the things you wake up for."