Currently, 72 percent of Jacksonville teens graduate from high school in four years.
Now the city has joined a nation seeking to improve that rate to 90 percent by 2020.
Mayor Alvin Brown announced Monday that the city will host a GradNation Community Summit on April 4 with America’s Promise Alliance. The alliance is the nation’s largest partnership dedicated to improving the lives of children and pulls together more than 400 national organizations that help teens graduate and prepare for college or the workforce.
The all-day summit will be Downtown at the Main Library and have an agenda that mimics the alliance’s goals of improving graduation rates. It also will serve as the start of developing a community plan that measures progress in those areas and others, such as early childhood education, literacy and grade-level reading, mentoring and increasing African-American male achievement.
The alliance’s tenets, known as the “Five Promises,” comprise the categories of caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others. They will be used as the framework for April’s summit, which is one of 100 held throughout the country as a part of the GradNation campaign.
AT&T is serving as the premier sponsor of the national campaign, with Florida Blue providing $25,000 toward the local event. The Florida Blue Foundation also is offering a matching $25,000 grant. The PGA Tour and Siemens also are local sponsors.
It’s the second education-related summit during Brown’s administration, following last year’s inaugural event that featured Bill Cosby.
The keynote speaker of the April summit will be Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise and longtime advocate for children and youth. Powell is the wife of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who founded the alliance in 1997.
“What is good for young people is good for Jacksonville and good for America,” said Alma Powell in a news release. “Becoming a GradNation is about much more than better schools; it requires an entire community taking responsibility for the well-being of its children.”
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