The Posse Foundation Review

The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse's partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. These Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers.

About a year ago I got involved with a not for profit organization called The Posse Foundation that is headquartered in New York but also has a Chicago Chapter.  The Posse Foundation was inspired by the simple insight that scholarship students from inner city schools often have a hard time college because they do not have the same support system that other kids do.  Posse seeks to address this issue through a unique process that identifies through nomination 2,000+ kids throughout a city (in this case Chicago) and then puts them through a variety of very interesting and effective assessment efforts to ultimately select 80 kids in groups of ten to head off to schools together.

Posse both selects the Posse Scholars and then helps them prepare for college life. I have participated in several events that were designed to asses the candidates and inspire the scholars to dream big and learn from others who have been to college and how they chose their path.

What I find remarkable about Posse is how both effective (90% graduation rate!) and how efficient it is due to their partnerships with leading colleges and universities. As their website says:

For 20 years, Posse partner colleges and universities have welcomed Posse Scholars onto their campuses. They have awarded an incredible $265 million in leadership scholarships to these young people and have seen their success not only as leaders on campus, but in these students' 90 percent graduation rate. Posse's incredible partners are investing time, energy and resources in the promotion of equity in education and social justice. They believe in the intelligence, talent and dreams of young people who might not always show up on their radar screens, and are giving them a chance to excel.

If you are interested in getting involved and/or supporting Posse I urge you to  learn more about Posse by visiting their web site at possefoundation.org.