AT&T Giving $100 Million to Fight Dropouts - New York Times: AT&T plans to announce a $100 million gift on Thursday intended to address the problem of high school dropouts and to improve the skills of the nation’s work force.
The gift, which will be distributed over four years, is among the largest corporate donations on record, but it is the second $100 million donation announced by a company this year. Last month, Goldman, Sachs & Company announced it would spend at least the same amount over 10 years to advance women’s business education in the developing world.
“We view it like any other investment we make,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive of AT&T Mobility, the company’s wireless operations. “It’s an investment in our future as well as the communities in which we work.”
A recent report by America’s Promise Alliance, a nonprofit started by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, found that roughly one-third of American high school students, or about 1.2 million people, leave school before graduating.
Additionally, the unemployment rate among Americans with less than a high school education in March was 60 percent higher than among those who completed high school, according to AT&T.
