Record $30M Gift for Midtown's Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Patch Staff Report

Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and Midtown-headquartered Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the nation's largest teen-serving organization, announced a groundbreaking five-year partnership on Wednesday to support teens on their path to graduate from high school; ready for a successful future.

As part of the new commitment, the Taco Bell Foundation expects to provide a $30 million, multi-year grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The partnership seeks to create a stronger generation of future leaders by providing critical resources that will inspire and enable teens to graduate from high school and unlock opportunities for college and jobs they may have only dreamed possible.

This new partnership's bold goal to provide $30 million represents the largest gift to Boys & Girls Clubs in the organization's 108-year history.

"Our founder Glen Bell once said, 'the best ideas are often the most simple.' We started Taco Bell Foundation for Teens in 1992 with a simple goal in mind: to help teens," Brian Niccol, president of Taco Bell and chairman of the Foundation, said in a news release. "Teens are our customers and our employees; they are our family and friends, and their success is our success. Taco Bell believes in teens, and we know that cultivating their skills, creativity and vibrancy is crucially important in setting all of our communities up for the future. Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the largest teen serving organization with a footprint similar to ours, and it only makes sense for us to partner to ensure many more teens across the nation are empowered to reach their full potential."

According to Education Week's Diplomas Count 2013 report, a projected 1 million students failed to graduate with their class in 2013 and one in four American students will not graduate on time. Research shows that those who earn a high school diploma are more likely than dropouts to find a job and less likely to live in poverty and suffer from poor health.[1]

"It is clear that there is a gap between graduation expectations and achievement among teens," Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, said in the release. "Through the continued support and unwavering commitment from the Taco Bell Foundation, this partnership will allow us to empower our nation's young people with the tools, resources and mentors to help them on their path to a great future. Taco Bell is the ideal partner when it comes to teen programming. They are in the communities where teens live, work and play; they are relevant to today's youth, and they truly understand how to engage them."

By 2018, the partnership will provide resources to nearly all 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs, with a goal of helping more than half a million teens stay on track to graduate. This represents a 13 percent improvement over current national graduation trends and can produce approximately $14 billion in economic impact on our nation.

For nearly two decades, Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and Boys & Girls Clubs of America have coupled their commitments to meet teens where they are in order to make a difference in their lives. This new partnership will help rising eighth and ninth graders transition into high school with the tools and mindset needed to excel in high school, and beyond. Teens will have new opportunities to:

• Participate in high school workshops and coaching programs;
• Gain access to an online community for peer support;
• Meet with mentors in their local area;
• Learn about the college experience with visits to trade schools, colleges and universities across the country; and
• Attend career preparation and course planning sessions.

Through the partnership, a unique college scholarship service for teen Club members will be established to reduce financial barriers by providing access to $83 million in scholarship and financial aid opportunities over the next five years.

The National Headquarters for Boys & Girls Clubs of America is located at 1275 Peachtree Street in Midtown.