YES Launches Corporate Challenge
Initiative will double the number of Houston's low-income college graduates

“One of our highest priorities as a community has to be keeping our children in school and preparing our children for jobs with a future. Houston is a great city of opportunity but we have to earn that opportunity every day as we compete in the global marketplace.” – Mayor Bill White

Houston's Workforce Crisis
In a Houston public school classroom today, the average sixth-grade student has less than a 10% chance of graduating from college. Out of the four largest US cities, Houston ranks last for the percentage of 25+ year-olds with a college degree. Houston must reverse this trend and prepare the next generation of our city’s workforce in order to ensure our future economic growth and prosperity.

The Answer is YES

Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report rank YES Prep as the best public school in Houston and one of the top 100 public schools in the nation. YES Prep Public Schools is a Houston-based and Houston-focused school system serving 2,100 low-income students across five area campuses. YES Prep is preparing the next generation of Houston leaders:

• For the past seven years, 100% of YES Prep seniors have been accepted into four-year colleges.
  
• 90% of YES Prep alumni have graduated from college or are still enrolled in college.
  
• 80% of YES alumni who have graduated from college have returned to work and live in Houston.
  
• YES Prep graduates have returned to Houston with degrees from Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Rice,
  The University of Texas and Texas A&M.  

The Goal: $10 Million
YES Prep has launched a campaign to raise the remaining $10 million it needs to bring its five schools to full capacity and to serve 4,000 low-income students each year. With this $10 million investment, YES will double the number of Houston’s low-income students who graduate from college each year.

The Corporate Challenge

To help reach this goal, YES has received generous funding to match corporate donations on a sliding scale: the more a company gives, the higher the match.

• Corporate pledges can be paid over three years; annual gifts of $100,000+ can be paid over 5 years.
  
• Naming opportunities are available for gifts at all levels.
  
• Employee donations from participating companies will be matched on a one-to-one basis.

Many corporate leaders have already endorsed this initiative, including Stanford Alexander, chairman, Weingarten Realty; Clarence Cazalot, president and CEO of Marathon Oil; Doug Erwin, Chairman and CEO of The Planet; Fred Fowler, president and CEO of Spectra Energy; George Mitchell, founder and CEO of Mitchell Energy and Development; and Marc Shapiro, former Vice Chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase. And the list is growing!

Join us. Invest in YES Prep and together, we can change Houston by securing an educated workforce for our city’s future. For more information on how your company can become part of the Challenge, please contact Ryan Dolibois, Chief Development Officer, at rdolibois@yesprep.org or 713-574-7595.

Download the fact sheet to share with your friends and colleagues.

To read the Houston Chronicle article that highlights YES Prep's Corporate Challenge, click here.