DAVIE, Fla. (June 4th, 2015) – Firewall Centers was awarded a generous $25,000.00 grant from AT&T to expand its T.H.I.N.K. Leadership High School program, which provides low-income students with resources to improve their academic success and increase readiness for college and career.
In Broward County, only 68% of low-income students graduate. Firewall targets these youth, as its High School Centers are located in impoverished areas with high incarnation rates and need for revitalization. Through mentoring, tutoring, and “Success Plans” that individualize each student’s future track as they transition from middle school, into high school, and eventually college/career, the students in this program are provided with the support system they need to move out of poverty and on to a pathway towards self-sufficiency.
Upon admission, Firewall staff begins daily communication with parents and school staff to best support student success. To remain in the T.H.I.N.K. Leadership program, students commit to attend Monday through Thursday after-school and to participate in all program activities. In addition to mentoring, tutoring, and Success Plans, the program instills character values and leadership principles in students through an integrated curriculum, service responsibility requirements, and point-based incentive system. Students are even provided with in-house internship opportunities and scholarships, interactive job readiness classes, and college/career guidance.
In 2012, AT&T chose Firewall Centers as 1 out of only 47 recipients of its Aspire grant. The Aspire initiative supported organizations like Firewall who stood out from thousands of others across the nation when it came to equipping students with the skills they need to succeed as well as in their ability to use data to demonstrate the effectiveness and results of its program. Specifically, these results are measured through student improvement in the areas of school attendance, behavior, and course performance (ABC’s). This past year, 95% of Firewall students received at least 100 hours of program services over the course of the school year, 92% maintained and/or improved their GPA in core academic subjects, and 100% were promoted to the next grade level and/or graduated.
Through this $25,000.00 grant from AT&T as well as additional support from like-minded donors, Firewall will be able to transform the lives of 450 at-risk students during the upcoming 2015/16 school year.
To find out more about what the AT&T Foundation is doing to support our community, visit http://about.att.com/csr.
