About Bright Prospect
-
Bright Prospect empowers low-income, first-generation students to gain admission, succeed and graduate from four-year colleges and universities by providing a comprehensive counseling and support system throughout their high school and college years.
-
Bright Prospect aims to break the cycle of poverty by significantly increasing the college-going culture and rate in our community.
-
A primary contributing factor to persistent poverty in low-income neighborhoods is low educational attainment. Nationwide, only a small fraction of low-income students start college, and of those who do, only 9% will graduate within six years.
College graduates earn an average of $1 Million more over their lives than high school graduates. Bright Prospect aims to create economic mobility in our community by empowering first-generation, low-income students to obtain a college degree through social-emotional learning, individualized mentorship, and professional development.
Our History
In 2002, Bright Prospect launched its original, selective Scholar Support program to guide high-achieving low-income students to the nation’s top-ranked colleges and universities. Every student successfully matriculated to college, including institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. This original cohort graduated college at a 95% rate.
In 2006, Bright Prospect expanded by launching a second program, The Academy of Young Scholars, open to any student at the high schools we serve. From 2006 to 2012, the success of the program led to a significant growth in the number of students we served. The Academy of Young Scholars promoted a college-going culture for all students during their high school journey.
In 2012, we merged our two programs into a single, unified Bright Prospect program. Today, more than 2,500 Bright Prospect students receive college readiness programming, one-on-one coaching, application assistance, and ongoing mentorship beginning in ninth grade through college graduation.
