Washington, D.C.– Peerforward’s model for increasing systemic usage of effective advising practices that help Black, Latino, and low-income students to access, enroll, transition successfully to, and complete postsecondary programs has received a $1 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
By scaling the PeerForward Method, more students will get the guidance they need to continue their education beyond high school. At the core of PeerForward’s approach to guiding students to and through higher education is Youth Activation. Youth activation occurs when students solve community challenges in partnership with allied adults.
PeerForward has mastered a demonstrably effective method to fill the postsecondary counseling gap in schools serving low-income and minority communities. The national student-to-counselor ratio is 464:1 and one in five high school students have no access to a counselor. Failing to empower low-income, first-generation, and minority students with the college knowledge to realize their full potential is a loss to the individual student, to families, to communities, and to the nation.
The grant will help PeerForward to develop and pilot a new model for implementing peer-led college access campaigns in high schools by training, credentialing, and providing on-going support and professional development to local educators and youth development professionals so they can deliver PeerForward in their local high schools.
“We are grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting our efforts to scale the PeerForward Method,” said Keith Frome, PeerForward’s Co-founder, CEO, and Executive Chair. “By relying on the strategic leverage of the research-validated ’peer effect’ to increase college success outcomes, we’ve created a process that yields powerful results. We’re excited to share it with schools and communities throughout the country.”
