Our Impact
According to the Boston Globe’s Valedictorians Project, one in four Boston public school valedictorians failed to graduate from college within six years and 40% earned less than $50,000 per year more than a decade after high school graduation.
To address the problem, we created The Upward Project: a five-year career development program consisting of career skills workshops, ongoing career and academic coaching, internship placement, and financial support.
Today we can report that we have achieved our goal:
100% of the Scholars from our first class graduated college in four years
all of our Scholars have signed full-time offers to begin careers at:
And 25 Scholars from our 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th cohorts are on track to follow in their footsteps.
Impact from Our Financial Support
Internship Fund
“The internship fund allowed me to pursue my internship in Salt Lake City without worrying about financial barriers. The fund covered my travel and living expenses and took a huge financial burden off my chest because it enabled me to save my summer earnings to pay for my college tuition.”
Emergency Fund
“While living in an apartment off campus during the pandemic, I was limited in the groceries I could buy due to finances. A monthly grocery stipend from The Upward Project allowed me to make healthier decisions in what I purchased and avoid skipping meals.”
Opportunity Fund
“My study abroad experience in Singapore was canceled due to Covid, and I lost a $5,000 study abroad scholarship as a result. When I decided to study abroad in London instead, I was able to use the Opportunity Fund to assist with housing costs. Alleviating the monthly stress of coming up with rent allowed me to focus on my studies and my overall experience abroad.”
Our program is working!
And we need your support to sustain and build on our momentum.
Our first graduating class has shown us that it only takes $3,500 of direct financial support to change the trajectory of a Scholar’s life. Some of our Scholars will now earn more than $70,000 in their first year after college graduation.