AT&T Supports Social Innovation in Education

AT&T is ready to launch a campaign worth a quarter of a billion dollars to promote higher education in Alabama and ensure the U.S. economy is better equipped to handle global challenges. The initiative is called "AT&T Aspire," and already ranks among the foremost U.S. corporate educational endeavors with more than a hundred million dollars invested since 2008. The initiative aims to address the challenges of college and career education with a socially innovative approach.

The Aspire program has already touched the lives of more than a million high school students in the U.S. and helped them prepare for success in college and at the workplace. The program will expand its reach with a new financial infusion of $250 million over the next five years. AT&T Aspire will make use of advanced technologies to connect with students more effectively.

The Aspire initiative will also use the innovation engine of AT&T Foundry to look for pathbreaking solutions to educational obstacles. It will also build upon the power of personal connectivity in the form of internships, mentoring and other voluntary efforts that will have the involvement of a number of AT&T's employees.

Until April 18, 2012, AT&T is also inviting organizations in Alabama to apply for funding through the Local High School Impact Initiative Requests for Proposals (RFPs). The company is keen on supporting local programs that follow strong, evidence-based practices.
 
A recent report released by the Everyone Graduates Center, Civic Enterprises, Alliance for Excellent Education and America's Promise Alliance says that 25 percent of all students in the United States drop out each year. Education experts point out that the lack of a high school degree causes a serious hindrance to the job prospects of youngsters in an increasing complex and dynamic job market.

Even when a high school dropout manages to find a job, he or she earns less. A high school dropout on average earns 25 percent less during the course of a lifetime compared with high school graduates, and 57 percent less than a college graduate with a bachelor's degree.

Source: ITNewsOnline

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