Andrew Schmitz's Colleagues at OneGoal
Payal (she/her/hers)
Senior Director of Coaching and Teacher Support, Regional DEI Leadership Team
Andrew Schmitz's Contact Details
773-321-2630
OneGoal
Andrew Schmitz's Company Details
Students from low-income communities—the vast majority of whom are students of color—face enormous systemic barriers to attend and complete college. This lack of opportunity is one of our nation's greatest injustices, and it has only widened over the past few decades. Despite millions invested, only 22% of students from low-income communities earn a postsecondary degree compared to 67% of their peers in high income communities. To truly move the needle for all low-income students, not just those at the very top of their class, we need a scalable, in-school solution.OneGoal offers that solution at a low cost and makes graduation a reality for all students. We collaborate closely with public schools in low-income communities, providing teachers with a robust curriculum, technology, training and coaching to implement our three-year model with a group of 25 students (Fellows) per cohort. Teachers support the same group of Fellows beginning in their junior year of high school and bridge the gap through their first year of their postsecondary education. And it's working: 82% of OneGoal high school graduates enroll in college and of those, 78% are persisting or have graduated with a postsecondary degree. We have grown from a small afterschool program serving just 32 students in Chicago to a nationwide movement that will serve more than 12,000 in six communities by the end of the 2017/18 school year. Our team is also gearing up for a major growth phase to significantly increase the number of students we reach in our existing regions as well as expand to new regions.We won't rest until all students—not just a chosen few—have a real opportunity to graduate from college. We believe in the solvability of this problem, the ability of all students, and the importance of building a fully inclusive, diverse, and anti-racist movement. This work isn't easy, but guided by these beliefs, we know we can succeed and hope you'll join us. Visit onegoalgraduation.org to learn more.