San Francisco, CA
I have a broad perspective on Aim High because I have served on the Board for about 5 years, two of my children have worked as teaching assistants in the summer, and a number of our employees' children have participated in the summer program. Aim High is an extraordinarily effective program that is meeting a critical and life-changing need (educational enhancement) for the most underserved members of our community. Aim High has demonstrated its success at providing the skills and motivation necessary for its students to graduate high school and matriculate at college. As one student put it: "Aim High is the place where I learned that I had a right to an education, I had the skills necessary to get an education and I had a responsibility to myself, my family and my community to get an education".
The Great!
- I've seen the results of this organization in... the success of its graduates in high school and college and the enthusiasm and commitment of its graduates for the program as demeonstrated by their returning to teach in the program.
- What I've enjoyed the most about my experience with this nonprofit is... the professionalism and commitment of the Aim High staff which has resulted in the continuous expansion and improvement of the program.
- The kinds of staff and volunteers that I met were... extraordinary. The administrative staff combines deep expertise in the needs of middle school children with unflagging enthusiasm for the program. Many of the volunteers are graduates or parents of graduates who think Aim High changed their lives.
- If this organization had 10 million bucks, it could... expand its program dramatically - immediately changing the lives of literally thousands of children - while ensuring that it had the resourses to maintain program excellence and ensure financial stability.
Ways to make it better!
- In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are... finding a way to continue to expand to meet the very substantial unmet need while maintaining the discipline to not become over-extended financially or operationally.
- One thing I'd also say is that... Aim High is a template for successful community outreach programs. It is run by experienced educational professionals, it reaches the most underserved communities, it builds strong public-private partnerships and it delivers measureable results.