First Graduate

First Graduate's evidence-based program model provides students with comprehensive support services, including:

Case Management Our experienced staff tailor program activities to meet the individual needs of students and track their progress toward the goal of college success. Case managers work closely with students, families, tutors, mentors, teachers, and other programs to ensure that students are successfully completing each step on the way to becoming college graduates. Students meet regularly with case managers for advisory meetings to track their progress and address concerns.

Academic Support Through our rigorous school-year and summer academic sessions, each student participates in more than 300 hours of academic instruction and tutoring each year.

School Counseling We help students and families move from their middle schools to academically rigorous high schools; we provide students with high school counseling and campus visits. We also provide intensive college counseling services, including standardized test preparation, college application planning, financial aid workshops, access to summer enrichment programs, college visits, and college scholarships.

College Scholarships and Support - We offer our college students $1,000 scholarships each year of college. We communicate with students monthly and visit them once a year at their college campus.

Mentoring College-educated volunteers provide our students with insight into college and professional careers. We also link our younger First Graduate students with older students for peer mentoring.

Career Exploration To educate students about career opportunities available to degree holders, we organize career panels and events, resume and networking workshops, and job shadow days.

Family Engagement Through family visits and ongoing communication, we educate our students' families so they can support their children through the college application and financial aid processes.