One Million Degrees empowers low-income, highly motivated community college students to succeed in school, in work, and in life. We first focus on helping our Scholars graduate, and then transferring to a four-year university or launching upwardly mobile careers in their field of choice.

Our model relies on wrap-around supports -- financial, academic, professional, and personal -- that work in tandem to help our scholars achieve their goals. Financial supports mainly take the form of quarterly performance-based stipends, up to a total of $1000 per year. OMD also provides enrichment grants and last-dollar scholarships. Academic supports include free, personalized tutoring, academic planning, transfer support, and study groups. Our volunteer Coaches, professionals spanning many career fields, provide professional and personal mentoring; they are both resources for a scholar to learn about and develop professional skills, like polishing a resume or creating an elevator pitch, as well as a shoulder to lean on -- someone to talk to about whatever is on their mind. Lastly, our Program Coordinators also provide personal and professional supports, developing close relationships with their scholars as well as running Scholar Development Sessions, monthly workshops to help Scholars develop skills, like financial literacy and leadership, that they will use for a lifetime.

One Million Degrees has been growing quickly in the last few years, and new staff and volunteers have been brought on accordingly. Our program is embedded in each of the campuses we serve -- all seven Chicago City Colleges and three suburban ones, streamlining our programming. We have cultivated relationships with corporate partners, who assist in holding events like Speed Networking and career fairs; Aon, one such partner, has been worked with OMD to launch an apprenticeship program with community college students. OMD is predominantly funded from grants and gifts, ensuring that the organization is not dependent on volatile government budgets.

The 3-year graduation rate of OMD Scholars is twice the state comparison, with the cumulative graduation rate an astonishing 64%; upon graduation, 86% of OMD Alumni employed, continuing their education, or both. The average household income of an OMD Alumni is $49,000 -- a 100% increase from when they entered the program. Furthermore, OMD is entering its second year working with UChicago Urban Labs to run a randomized control trial, which when completed, will provide solid evidence that speaks to the effect that OMD has.

Since its inception in 2006, OMD has served 1000+ Scholars, and are on track to serve 1000 in the 2018-2019 school year alone. We have touched the lives of not only our Scholars, but their children and families who have been lifted to the middle class. Our involvement with Aon's successful apprenticeship program is a model that we plan to build and expand on, embedding it in different industries and businesses so our Scholars can gain experience while still in school. OMD is also in the early stages of planning a possible expansion, to bring the successful support model to other locations.