Winning Futures

Winning Future's mission is to be an exemplary business-education partnership that inspires and prepares young people to be self-reliant and successful through workforce preparation, life skills, strategic planning, mentoring, and scholarship programs.

We help high school students across metro Detroit see the path to a purposeful career by assisting them in creating the road map to get there. We value and embrace the wealth of diversity reflected in our students, workforce, mentors, and the many diverse communities we serve. Our programs serve the needs of high school students who are at a pivotal point in their lives as they make critical choices about their futures. The decisions they make regarding their education and careers will affect their entire lives. Guidance from knowledgeable adults is critical in this process.

Since 1994, we have been providing students with our award-winning, evidence-based programming. Our goals are to:
-Provide students with consistent adult role models from the business community.
-Increase students' self-confidence, attitude toward school, and ability to overcome obstacles.
-Develop students' short- and long-term educational and career goal-setting skills.
-Develop students' career readiness skills.

In the past, we offered a one-year program. Beginning in 2019, we have expanded our programming to provide students with hands-on access to careers by offering Workforce Prep, a multi-year mentoring program. Our goals for this program include:
-Tying kids to a career path (help students connect to a career versus a job).
-Getting youth into the career field they are interested in pursuing through exposure to hands-on workplace experiences.
-Aligning them with careers that have projected growth.
-Exposing them to variety of career paths including both white- and blue-collared positions, skilled labor, manufacturing, etc.
-College tours and exploration of all continuing education options.

Our strategies include offering a multi-year model that includes career exploration, mentorship, hands-on workplace experiences, and the opportunity to apply for paid internships. Our program will teach critical life and soft skills identified by the U.S. Department of Labor as fundamental competencies required for success in the workplace.

We specifically target students who will greatly benefit from our services. More than three-quarters are low-income and a majority are also minorities and/or first-generation college goers. We partner with high schools throughout the Metro-Detroit area, impacting between 250-500 students each school year:

- Wayne County: Cass Technical and Mumford (Detroit) & Harper Woods High (Harper Woods);

- Macomb County: Community (alternative high school; Sterling Heights), Mott (Warren)

- Oakland County: Pontiac Academy for Excellence; Southfield High School for the Arts & Technology

Winning Futures is one of the longest-running nonprofit mentoring organizations in Michigan; we have been offering school-based mentoring and life skills programs for over 25 years. Counting recognition received individually as well as for the organization as a whole, Winning Futures has been recognized with more than two dozen awards. Our top program awards include Crain’s Detroit Best-Managed Nonprofit, the Governor’s Innovative Mentoring Program of the Year, and the Governor’s Excellence in Practice Award for Career Education. CEO and President, Kris Marshall, has won many awards for her leadership skills and work in the nonprofit field including Crain’s Most Notable Women in Nonprofit and 40 under 40 awards, Michigan Technological University’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award (only one recipient annually), and Distinguished Leadership Award from the Women Leadership in the Workplace program (Michigan Business & Professional Association). This experience translates into a program that positively impacts its participants; our student outcomes are continually met or exceeded.

Winning Futures is committed to meeting quality standards for mentoring that are safe and effective. We strive to follow the nationally recognized best practices, known as the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™, 4th Edition, and established by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, to support quality youth mentoring relationships. To maintain these standards, Winning Futures is a member of the National Quality Mentoring System and has completed a quality self-assessment and improvement process facilitated by Mentor Michigan. We are the first mentoring program in Michigan to receive this designation.

We continually take steps to secure long-term funding which will extend beyond the current school year by building new relationships with organizations throughout the Metro-Detroit area. Our CEO and board work together to expand corporate, foundation, and individual donor contacts and explore new fund development strategies that will increase opportunities for funding.

Well-established annual events allow us to consistently raise funds for our programs including Winning Futures Golf Classic, a golf outing held annually and now in its 22nd year, as well as Corks & Forks, a high-end wine event and dinner, now in its 13th year. We intentionally diversify funding in order to avoid relying too heavily on any one source. Our support is broken down into the following categories: foundations (26%), private donors (23%), events (22%), service revenue (8%) and corporations (21%).

Winning Futures has been providing programming for 29 years, offers evidence-based programs, and has received more than two dozen awards including recognition for being well-managed, having innovative programs, and experienced leadership.

Each year, over 100 different companies provide employees as mentors and coaches, who are investing over 7,000 volunteer hours annually into our students. Over the past 29 years, we have awarded $2.1 million in scholarships through a separate, privately funded foundation established by Sam Cupp and his family and impacted nearly 50,000 students.

Through our most recent randomized survey of alumni, we found that more than 90% are employed or enrolled in continuing education. We are increasing our program's impact by continuing our expansion from a one-year to a multi-year program that works with high school students into their first year of continuing education. By working with students long-term, we ensure that they are college and career ready. These high school students will obtain critical workplace skills taught in the program and also while they participate in hands-on career experiences.

Our program will help students find a career path in a growing field that is also a good fit. We will encourage all forms of continuing education including two-year colleges, four-year universities, skilled trades, and certificate programs. Our expanded programming will encourage students to become "workforce ready" and will help fill the talent gap in Michigan.