Young Women's Leadership Foundation

CollegeBound Initiative has demonstrated that a $1 investment can yield a $7 to $8 return in terms of scholarships and financial aid. Over four years this is a $21 to $32 return on a single dollar!

CollegeBound Initiative (CBI) is a leader in school-based college guidance, application and enrollment services. Our mission is to increase college enrollment rates and secure critical financial aid in order to make college more affordable for low-income, inner city students. Founded at The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem in 1999, the program’s success warranted expansion and today serves more than 5,000 students in 10 schools, including six co-ed public high schools in New York City, one charter school in New Haven, Connecticut, and three YWL all-girls schools in East Harlem, Queens, and Philadelphia, PA.

CBI offers urban public school students a comprehensive college guidance program on par with the top private schools. The program provides early college awareness activities, complete application, enrollment and financial aid support to ALL students and families. CBI is offered in both single-gender and small co-ed public high schools serving high populations of low-income students. YWL Network hires, trains and manages the highest quality college counselors to work full-time in our partner schools. The ratio of counselor to seniors is never more than 1:100, compared to other NYC public schools where the student to guidance counselor ratio can number as large as 500:1.

CollegeBound Initiative stands apart from other college access organizations in multiple ways. We are the only full-time school-based program working with every student in our partner schools. Our program is comprehensive, multi-year, and geared towards achieving both college acceptance and financial aid for our students. CBI Counselors work to ensure high expectations, positive peer pressure, and a culture of success for all students. We believe in partnering with families, the school leadership team, and staff at each of our schools

Our exceptional results demonstrate that CollegeBound Initiative can work effectively in any public high school and serve students of all academic abilities:

		8 years of college access for low-income youth.
		More than 90% annual college enrollment rate for graduating seniors at all CBI schools since 2001. For the Class of 2008, 95% went on to college.
		3,068 kids going to college, approximately 73% have either graduated or are still enrolled in college or graduate school.
		76% of students in the Class of 2008 were the first in their families to go to college.
		CollegeBound Initiative has generated a total of $34.1 million in financial aid and scholarships for students; student financial aid packages average $13,000 or higher.
		On average, schools that add CollegeBound Initiative see approximately a 30% increase in college-acceptance rates.
		CBI includes formal alumni outreach and an online alumni website, www.myCollegeBound Initiative.com. As a result, the program has been able to track nearly 2,900 alumni.
		CBI has provided more than 3,930 underclassmen with Early Awareness Activities in our schools.

CollegeBound Initiative is filling a critical need in public schools to prevent college-capable kids from falling through the cracks and not realizing their potential. With CollegeBound Initiative, it is not a question of whether a student will go to college, but where he/she will enroll.

If you are an alumni of a CollegeBound Initiative school,
please visit our website at www.mycollegebound.com.
We’d love to hear from you!