PeerForward maximizes the power of positive peer influence to transform the lives of students in low-income communities by connecting them to higher education and careers. PeerForward has served schools across the nation for two decades. The organization confronts the urgent crisis of education inequity that faces schools in under-resourced communities. There is a chasm between desire for degrees, and opportunity for low-income students to get them.
PeerForward primarily serves youth ages 14-24 from economically disadvantaged communities and overcrowded, underfunded public school systems across the nation, including a robust presence in Los Angeles. The vast majority are individuals of color trying to succeed academically despite tremendous challenges stemming from poverty, neighborhood violence, a lack of resources and often being the first in their families
to attend college. Unfortunately, nationwide only 22% of low-income students earn four-year degrees by age 26. This pales in comparison to 67% of high-income students. Post-pandemic, there has been an 18% drop in Black student enrollment in community colleges, making the need to reach more individuals through PeerForward’s programming especially pressing.
In the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down Affirmative Action in higher education, this education inequity threatens the students PeerForward serves. PeerForward has found a way to level the playing field by tapping into an underutilized resource already in every school: the students themselves. By empowering students to help themselves and fellow students persist to/through higher education, PeerForward dramatically improves postsecondary success at our partner schools, narrowing the higher education gap & launching generations towards career success.
