Grand Boulevard Federation’s

EDUCATION TO SUCCESS Initiative
For Black Male Youth On Chicago’s South Side

An education initiative funded by The Twenty-First Century Foundation in New York and the Lumina Foundation

About the Education to Success Initiative

The Grand Boulevard Federation (GBF) was awarded a grant from The Twenty-First Century Foundation (21CF) in New York City with support from the Lumina Foundation to increase graduation and college attendance rates of African American youth as part of 21CF’s “Black Men and Boys” Initiative. The goal of our Education to Success project is to develop and implement strategies that will identify and address barriers and challenges to the reality that too few African American males are graduating from high school and going on to be successful in post secondary education. In order to achieve our goals, GBF is pleased to be working in collaboration with Dyett High School and its feeder school, Price Intermediate/Upper School, and with a newly formed Graduation Accountability Council (GAC) of youth, parents, and staff from these schools to help us gain a realistic understanding of this issue so that we are better able to develop and implement solutions for addressing these challenges at multiple levels. A primary indicator of success will be a marked increase in the number of African American male students graduating from Dyett High School and becoming successful in post secondary educational settings.

GBF understands that this is a major undertaking. We acknowledge that no one organization can successfully address all of the challenges preventing youth from graduating, nor have all of the resources to solve this critical problem. Success will require an effective and active alliance of students, parents, community leaders and institutions and school staff and administrators. We know that there has been an education gap between Blacks and Whites for decades, and while this gap has narrowed somewhat across the country, it has remained nearly the same in Chicago. Furthermore, African American males are not completing high school at nearly the same rate as other male students. This is due in part to a combination of: 1) students dropping out of school; 2) students being pushed out of school due to discipline policies and schools that do not have the capacity to work with the more difficult populations, particularly under the pressures of meeting NCLB Federal and state testing standards, 3) students not understanding how a high school diploma can create an education to career path for them, and 4) students who have made it to college having personal family obligations they have prioritized over schooling. The GAC will examine the relevance of these factors and others that impact on our concerns.

We concluded the 3-year pilot program in June 2009.  For more information about the outcomes, contact Andrea Lee, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (773_ 548-8140 ext. 205.