The need is enormous.

Over 90% of Rochester City School District students qualify for some form of social assistance.

A recent report suggests that families in the Rochester City School District rank as one of the poorest major urban areas in the United States. The Rochester City School District (RCSD) is the third-largest school district in New York State and has 50 schools. Nine out of every ten students are students of color; 57% are Black/African American, 29% are Hispanic/Latino, 4% are Asian, and 10% are White.  Twenty percent (20%) of RCSD students are students with disabilities (n=5,773), and 14% are English Language Learners (n=3,991).  The District serves approximately 3,000 homeless children every year, and in 2017-2018, more than 600 students who were displaced by recent hurricanes enrolled in RCSD schools.

The RCSD preliminary 2014 Cohort results show a graduation rate of 56.7%.  The graduation rates have seen an improvement since 2009; however more work needs to be done.

With the increasing need to support the most at-risk and underperforming students in the Rochester City School District, resources are spread thin. Consequently, students who are the top performers in the RCSD often receive little or no attention, and have difficulty accessing resources when they need support. Failure to invest in these students, the vast majority from families headed by single mothers, can only lead to increasing dropout rates at younger ages, higher unemployment, increased poverty rates, and increasing welfare costs. The RCSF program focuses on the students who excel in their academic studies and manage to rise above the challenges they face daily. In addition, RCSF provides educational resource material on topics such as banking and money management, study habits and planning for college. We also try to proactively intervene when we find a student in danger of falling below our academic requirements.

Over 92% of our students remain with us from ninth grade through graduation. Of those students, over 98% go on to higher education.

Anecdotal evidence from teachers and guidance counselors tells us that this direct cash payment to the students makes a material difference in their lives and to their families. Our goal is to increase the number of students on scholarship to one hundred fifty in the next five years.