First Graduate is a San Francisco-based college access and success program that helps students become the first in their families to graduate from college prepared to begin careers that are meaningful to them. We make a 10+ year commitment to each student, starting the summer after sixth grade through college graduation. Our students receive free academic instruction, tutoring and support; high school and college coaching; mentoring; family engagement activities; career exploration activities; and access to college scholarships. We believe that a college degree is the best way to break the cycle of poverty within families and build a productive, educated workforce--it is a social justice issue.

We believe that in order to create lasting change in the educational success of students attending San Francisco public schools we need to focus on those students with the greatest need – those who come from households without a college-going tradition who attend schools that are unable to provide them the assistance and resources they need to succeed in high school, graduate from college, and excel in their careers. We estimate that there are 2,000 sixth graders in the San Francisco Unified School District each year that could become first-generation college graduates. 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. Together, we can make social justice a reality by ensuring that every student in San Francisco has access to high-quality learning experiences so that they can succeed in college and beyond.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Grow impact by strengthening parent and family programming, growing corporate and community partnerships, and enhancing our college-to-career programming.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: Strengthen our team by improving staff retention, increasing staff, board, and associate board collaboration, and growing staff and Board capacity.

Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).

Goal Three: Grow funding by building and implementing a multi-channel financial strategy.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

We encourage staff to participate in webinars and classes to enhance their professional development. First Graduate provides $800/ staff person each year for staff to invest in their own leadership development. We also encourage our staff to participate in community leadership programs like CORO. Our regularly scheduled professional development staff workshops are on themes identified by staff as being of interest. Several of our staff and board completed a DEI certification program. We have monthly professional development sessions focusing on allyship, education developments, etc. Staff is included in all board meetings and is frequently asked to present. Our team meetings have rotating leadership as do our social get-togethers each week. Staff participates in Board-level committees and co-plan social activities.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

We work collaboratively community with community partners that include middle and high schools, fellow NGOS like Mission Graduates, SFUSD, Aim High, and SEO Scholars. We also partner with companies like Deloitte, Accenture, Adobe, Wellington Management, BSSP, and others to engage volunteers to support our students. We recruit volunteers from the community and partner organizations to support our students, especially in areas like career exposure and experience, college essay coaching, and internships. We also have an active Alumni Committee and Associate Board that help with outreach to the broader community. All this is supported by our social media and our website.

First Graduate faced many organizational challenges due to pandemic restrictions. One of the greatest was a reduction in our revenue due to our inability to fundraise through events and individual meetings with donors. Simultaneously, many grant funders delayed or suspended their grant-making during this time, and some long-term foundation supporters lowered their gift amounts. At the same time, we are proud to have risen to the occasion and taken steps that were unplanned and not in our budget to adjust to the needs of our students and families during school closures. In addition to our pivot to providing all of our coaching and workshop training online, we stepped up to allocate the resources needed to purchase laptops and Hotspots for our low-income students, who often did not have the resources in their homes to remain current with homework and our programs virtually. We delivered snacks to help keep spirits up and to provide a little relief to those families experiencing challenges with food security. First Graduate’s Program team increased its virtual coaching for college students regarding job searching and networking and provided workshops on job and salary negotiations, resume writing, and more. We purchased graduation stoles and other “survival kit” gifts and drove them to the homes of our graduating seniors in a caravan to help them celebrate their accomplishments. We were able to hold our first in-person annual benefit and college graduation celebration in 2022. We initiated an Associate Board comprising young professionals, launched our Alumni Network, and added new board members and staff. We maintained the connection with one another through weekly virtual lunch socials led by staff members in rotation. We changed the format of our team meetings, rotating leadership and including "shout-outs" of appreciation for one another. We are proud of the ways we adapted during this extremely challenging time.