OneGoal Receives $500,000 from Barr Foundation
Funds will support the Massachusetts launch of program to ensure more students earn college degrees
BOSTON, June 28, 2016 – OneGoal announced it will receive a $500,000 grant from the Barr Foundation to support the organization’s expansion to serving high school students in Massachusetts. The funds will be distributed over the next two years and will go toward supporting OneGoal’s fall launch in six Massachusetts high schools, equipping excellent teachers with the curriculum, technology, training, and coaching to implement OneGoal’s three-year model. These efforts will ensure underserved students from low-income communities have a real opportunity to earn college degrees.
The Barr Foundation’s investment supports OneGoal’s initial launch of six cohorts in the Boston and Lawrence public school districts, comprising of 150 students (called OneGoal Fellows). This gift, coupled with the generous, early investment from Strategic Grant Partners, ensures OneGoal – Massachusetts’ founding cohorts will be fully supported during their three years. In Massachusetts, only 15 percent of students from low-income communities graduate from college. OneGoal works to ensure that all students have a real opportunity to earn a college degree. Nationwide, 82 percent of OneGoal high school graduates have enrolled in college and 78 percent of OneGoal Fellows are persisting in college or have graduated with a degree.
“We are so grateful for the Barr Foundation’s generosity because it signals to our students that this community believes in their potential,” said Patty Diaz-Andrade, Executive Director of OneGoal – Massachusetts. “We have received great support from across the state and are establishing strong partnerships with schools. We are eager to launch our first cohorts of students this fall, beginning the work to ensure more students in Massachusetts both increase their academic readiness to access college and build the skills and mindsets necessary to succeed in college and beyond.”
Looking toward the future, OneGoal intends to continue expanding throughout Boston, Lawrence, and nearby cities. The organization plans to more than double its reach, adding 16 new cohorts throughout five school districts in the 2017-18 school year. Massachusetts is OneGoal’s fourth region to join Chicago, Houston, and New York in successfully implementing the OneGoal model throughout schools.
“Barr Foundation and OneGoal share a vision of connecting all students to success in and beyond high school,” said Jenny Curtin, Senior Program Officer with Barr Foundation’s Education Team. “OneGoal’s rigorous model leverages components known to be critical for achieving this vision, including maximizing strong teachers, providing personalized student supports, and developing students’ socio-emotional skills. We are excited to support OneGoal’s expansion in Massachusetts to implement this unique school day, credit-bearing high school course, which will both complement existing efforts and address gaps in underserved communities.”
About OneGoal
OneGoal is a college access and success organization that is working to dramatically increase the percentage of students from low-income communities who complete college.
OneGoal recruits high-performing teachers – those already working in high schools in low-income communities – and provides them with the training and support to become OneGoal Program Directors. These Program Directors implement OneGoal’s three-year college success model with a cohort of Fellows (students), beginning with in-school daily classes in their junior and senior years of high school and continuing with remote support through the first day of sophomore year of college.
OneGoal launched in the Massachusetts region in July 2015 thanks to the generous, early investment from Strategic Grant Partners. OneGoal serves approximately 6,500 Fellows in Chicago, Houston, New York and Massachusetts and will be expanding into Atlanta beginning July 2017.