A $20 million effort to increase the number of Atlanta students completing college or other higher education will start work in Atlanta Public Schools this fall.
Achieve Atlanta will provide advisers to help students and parents navigate the college application and financial aid process. It will also award scholarships and give students academic and social support once they’re in college, new executive director Tina Fernandez said.
“It’s about getting more of our students into college and post-secondary education and then providing the supports they need to complete their education,” she said.
Fernandez, who has worked as a Teacher for America teacher and executive, is currently a partner at consulting firm Bellwether Education Partners. She previously served as a clinical professor at University of Texas School of Law in Austin.
Achieve Atlanta is funded by a grant from the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and overseen by a volunteer board including:
• SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers;
• Georgia State University President Mark Becker;
• Spelman College President Beverly Tatum;
• Greenberg Traurig Managing Partner Ernest Greer;
• Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta President Alicia Philipp; and
• Leapfrog Services CEO Claire Arnold.
Atlanta’s Project Grad, an existing non-profit with a similar mission, will be “consolidated” into Achieve Atlanta’s efforts, Fernandez said.
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