Business and Education Partnerships

Achieve! Career and College Initiative Overview

Achieve! Career and College Centers help students plan for life after high school
Students in Minneapolis Public Schools have a new resource to help them achieve their career goals

Achieve! Career and College Centers are now open in all seven comprehensive high schools as well as the alternative high schools at Lehman Center and the Metropolitan Federation of Alternative Schools. The centers are the core of the Achieve! Career and College Initiative, which builds on existing school, community, and government programs to create a comprehensive system that ensures allstudents have a plan to move from high school to higher education and work. Initiative staff are working closely with Minneapolis Public Schools to implement My Life Plan to guide students through the creation of a life plan using technology, counseling, mentoring, and motivation to succeed.

How It Works

The Achieve! Career and College Centers are staffed with coordinators who help students determine their interests and talents and find the resources they need to achieve their career goals. Traffic has been steady and coordinators have already helped thousands of students:

Since the beginning of this school year, there have been over 10,000 student connections with the centers (with many students connecting more than once) for assistance in researching careers, college options, financial aid options, and jobs.
9th graders are completing interest surveys to learn more about who they are and the kinds of work they could do that fits their interests.
10th graders are researching career options and learning more about the outlook for pay, availability, and skills needed for various careers they might consider.
11th graders are learning about the process for applying to college and researching options for colleges that fit their interests.
12th graders are applying to colleges, and researching scholarship and financial aid options.
Achieve! Career and College Center coordinators are working closely with Achieve!Minneapolis staff who manage the STEP-UP Summer Jobs Program to connect meaningful summer employment to long-term career planning.

Support

The community has stepped up to support the initiative. Mayor Rybak and the City Council provided early and consistent city funding and support. Win Wallin has championed the initiative from the beginning, and the Winston R. Wallin Foundation has donated $200,000. Ameriprise Financial was the first major corporate donor with a 3-year pledge of $250,000 per year. Cargill Foundation pledged $899,299 over 3 years to support development of My Life Plan. And the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce officially endorsed the initiative and is actively assisting in efforts to raise up to 25 percent of annual costs contingent upon meeting agreed-upon goals and outcomes.

“Preparing the next generation to succeed is one of our highest priorities,” Mayor Rybak said of the initiative. John Stanoch, chair of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce recognized the need for a community-wide effort saying, “Ensuring that our youth are ready to succeed requires involvement from the business community, parents, schools, government, all of us.”

Funds Pledged


*	Cargill Foundation	$899,299
	McKnight Foundation	$812,500
	Ameriprise Financial	$750,000
*	Thrivent Financial for Lutherans	$235,000
	City of Minneapolis	$222,500
	Winston R. Wallin Foundation	$200,000
	Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice, a supporting organization of The Minneapolis Foundation	$100,000
	Office of Higher Education	$84,000
	Star Tribune Foundation	$80,000
*	Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America	$75,000
*	RBC Dain Rauscher	$75,000
	4XL Kevin Garnett Foundation	$60,000
	Morning Foundation	$40,000
*	Marquette Financial Companies	$30,000
*	Qwest	$30,000
*	Valspar	$30,000
*	Target	$20,000
*	State Farm Insurance Co.	$10,000
*	Xcel Energy	$10,000
*	Adolfson & Peterson Construction	$7,500
*	Liberty Diversified	$5,000
*	Magenic Technologies	$3,000
*	Fleishman-Hillard, Inc	$2,760
*	Heartland Investigative Group	$2,500
	Wollan & Fan Family Fund	$2,500
*	University of St. Thomas	$2,000
*	Minnesota Keystone Program	$1,515
*	Jefferson Lines	$1,000
	John and Ruth Bergerson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation	$1,000
*	TDS Metrocom	$1,000
*	Amica Mutual Insurance Company	$920
*	Everest Group	$920
*	Express Personnel Services	$920
*	Hilton Mpls/St. Paul/Airport/MOA	$920
*	LaBreche Murray	$920
*	Merrill Lynch Minneapolis	$920
*	Padilla Speer Beardsley Inc.	$500
	Total Pledged	$3,799,094

* Denotes member of Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, which officially endorsed the Career and College Initiative and is actively assisting in efforts to raise up to 25% of annual costs contingent upon meeting agreed upon goals and outcomes. Total raised from Chamber members to date is $1,446,594.

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