Achieve Twin Cities

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2012 to Jun 30, 2013

Signed

Jan 27, 2014

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$4,059,065

Major Activities

Activity 2

Career & college centers:achievempls career & college centers (cccs) are open to every mps student, every day, in every high school. Each ccc coordinator is an achievempls employee and a member of the school counseling team. Students come to our centers for classes and workshops with local professionals, one-on-one help from coordinators, and to use computers equipped with advanced college and job search software. Coordinators help ensure that every student meets the key college-going milestones of meeting a college representative, completing financial aid forms, taking the act and submitting a college application.in 2012-2013, mps students visited career and college centers more than 90,000 times. Coordinators held over 18,000 sessions with students, ranging from large career and college fairs to one-on-one conferences. Although coordinators organize school-wide events like college and career fairs, they do most of their work on a far more personal scale, with an average of five students in a session. Over 75% of coordinator meetings with students were one-to-one support. We are pleased to report that 69% of seniors who graduated in 2012 went on to a post-secondary institution in the fall, a six point increase from the previous year. In addition, last year 73% of mps seniors completed the act test, also a six point increase from the previous year.

Activity 3

Step-up achieve:each year, step-up achieve helps hundreds of low-income students explore the world of work and make strong professional connections through work-readiness training and paid summer internships with more than 160 top twin cities employers, ranging from wells fargo, boston scientific, medtronic and u.s. Bank to public agencies, law firms, healthcare providers and large nonprofits. This innovative, public-private partnership with a unique emphasis on work-readiness training has made minneapolis a national model for youth employment. Step-up achieve employers are now going beyond hiring interns to helping us deepen career preparation by creating a year-round sequence of training, certifications and mentoring for hundreds of minneapolis youth in sector-specific career tracks. Pipeline committees representing healthcare, financial services, stem, outdoor/environmental and legal services--including representatives from employers and educators in these industries--are working together to design training programs and offer industry-recognized certifications. Over the last decade we have placed more than 5,500 youth in paid step-up achieve summer jobs with over 160 employers. In 2013, 806 youth were placed in step-up achieve summer and year-round internships. At the end of the summer internships, 97% of participating interns said their job was a valuable learning experience, while 87% said their job made them realize why it is important to do well in school. 85% of interns had a mentor in their workplace, one third met with the ceo of their company and 90% said their job helped them improve their 21st century professional skills. 88% of employers said their intern made a valuable contribution to the workplace, and 90% said they want to participate again next year. Two out of three employers said they would hire their intern if there was a job opening. In 2013, achievempls was one of six organizations selected for a prestigious $200,000 social innovation fund (sif) federal grant administered by the new generation next collaborative. This sif grant is enabling us to expand and deepen step-up training and to conduct a major research study in collaboration with the university of minnesota on the impact of youth employment on academic outcomes and future success. As a sif grantee, achievempls is playing a lead role in generation next's mission to create regional collaboration on programs proven to help close the twin cities' academic achievement gap.

Filer

EIN

41-1425264