First Graduate

Our goals are to help our students:
1) Earn a bachelor's degree within 6 years of college matriculation,
2) Graduate from college well prepared to pursue careers that are meaningful to them and,
3) Become engaged, active, and socially conscious members of their communities.

Core program components include academic instruction and tutoring for middle school students through a year-round 40-week program, high school and college application assistance, standardized test preparation, financial aid workshops, summer enrichment programs, and on-campus visits. Parent engagement activities include multilingual workshops that address high school selection, college choices, eligibility requirements, application processes, and financial aid. Career exposure, exploration, and readiness is integrated into all levels of coaching. We provide the support and opportunities that a college-going family would provide. Our approach throughout is a combination of high-touch and high-tech—to meet student needs where they are.

Besides rigorous academics, our students learn non-cognitive skills: grit, integrity, leadership, social intelligence, open-mindedness, love of learning, and self-control, so they can navigate challenges they may face in their careers and beyond.

As outlined in our newly adopted Strategic Plan, Over the next three years, the top-level key results we are driving toward include:
- Increasing the college graduation rate for students from 75% (current) in six years to 85% (10% increase)
- Increasing the percentage of college graduates who are hired into their fields of choice, or have started graduate school, by 15% (baseline needs to be established)
- Increasing staff and board engagement to 100% from where it is now (baseline needs to be taken)
- Securing the resources needed to carry out First Graduate’s goals while maintaining a healthy reserve by increasing revenue to $3.5 million/year by June 30, 2024
- Supporting at least 500 students/year by 2023, and growing to support 800 students/year by 2026.

We leverage the power of long-term, continuous relationships to unlock equitable access to college and career success for San Francisco students starting in middle school and continuing through career entry. First Graduate helps students on the path to college by coaching and counseling them and their families from middle school to high school and through college completion. We focus on one-on-one coaching, family engagement activities, career exploration activities, access to college scholarships, and the application process. We also coach our college students through internships and the job application process. In fact, we are increasing our investment in our career success development because we know that it is no longer enough to just obtain a college degree; we want our students to be competitive prospective employees. Our First Career program focuses on working with our partner corporations to create internship opportunities, job shadowing days and externships, as well as offering career panels and individual coaching for resumes, interviews, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letter preparation.

Our work with middle school students focuses on middle school success, career exposure, and helps reinforce what it means to be a college-bound student. In 9th-12th grade, we work with students to address the transition to high school and ensure completion of college preparatory coursework to achieve California State University and University of California eligibility.

Once in college, we counsel students on financial management, career development, and utilizing campus resources. We support students through regular contact via email, phone calls, and on-campus visits. Throughout the program, college-educated adults and older peers serve as mentors to help guide students through each program.

Aimed at our college seniors and recent graduates, our newest initiative, LaunchPad, facilitates a smooth transition from campus to career, providing mock interviews and professional development workshops covering topics like career search, drafting resumes and cover letters, using LinkedIn and other networking platforms, and salary negotiations.

First Graduate educates whole families, enabling parents to encourage their children through the college admission and financial aid processes.

We work exclusively with aspiring first-generation college graduates, students whose parents have never completed college. First Graduate has built an effective college access and success program that currently serves 380 San Francisco-based students utilizing a high-touch, long-term approach that is unique within the field. We make a 10-12 year commitment to our students starting the summer after 6th grade through the completion of college.

Our core competencies comprise: 1) Providing early college and career exposure, goal setting, planning, and guidance; 2) Providing student-based tools for parent engagement and education; 3) Sharing clear information about the pathway to college; 4) Building a toolkit for college success (grounded in self-determination theory); 5) Accessing a network of college motivated peers; and 6) Creating a rich network of mentors, corporate partners, community partners, and technology innovation partners to plan the delivery of an engaging, competency-based, high-touch system of learning.

We estimate that there are 2000 sixth graders in the San Francisco Unified School District each year that could become first-generation college graduates. What we are exploring are paths we might take to reach these students with neither diminution of quality contact on our part nor reduced outcome on their part. By changing the expectations for low-income students and their families and making a college education attainable, we change the dynamics of families, neighborhoods, and communities. We have 87 alumni who are working in their chosen fields or in graduate school.

First Graduate’s programs leverage the power of long-term, continuous relationships to unlock equitable access to college and career success for San Francisco students. We make a long-term commitment of between ten and twelve years to work with youth, we start our programs early—in middle school—and continue them through career entry and beyond.

Throughout the entire process, our programs involve many essential players. At the core, of course, are the 383 students currently enrolled with First Graduate. But we also reach potential enrollees, parents, teachers, tutors, mentors, First Graduate alumni, and others—a total of 2,800 persons each year.

It all starts with the Aim High summer program for incoming 7th graders to deepen their academic skills and expose them, often for the first time, to career choices. During the 35-week middle school year, students receive individualized academic coaching, and they and their parents get help in choosing and applying to high schools.

Individual-tailored coaching and regular monitoring of academic progress continue in high school and college. In high school, we ensure that students complete the college preparatory coursework needed for the universities our students attend throughout the country. We also provide standardized test preparation, college application assistance, a summer workshop to prepare students for college life, and curriculum and degree/career enrichment programs, which include internships and on-campus visits. Multilingual parent workshops address choosing a college, eligibility requirements, the application process, and financial aid. During college, we make sure that students meet our benchmarks on the way to graduation, getting any needed academic and counseling. As a result, 75% of our students graduate within six years of matriculation.