Summer Search’s comprehensive, long-term approach has helped our students achieve impressive results over the last 20 years: Over ninety-nine percent of Summer Search students have graduated from high school compared to only sixty-one percent of their low-income peers. Ninety-three percent have gone on to college compared to only thirty-three percent of their peers. Of that group, eighty-nine percent have completed college or remain enrolled and are on track to do so compared to only twenty-one percent of their peers. They are attending schools including UC Berkeley, UCLA, Mount Holyoke, Macalester, San Jose State, Smith, Columbia, Cornell, and Yale. By investing in students holistically and over the long-term, Summer Search aims to help our students navigate the risks of poverty and become positive leaders and engaged citizens who give back to their communities.

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The mission of Summer Search is to find resilient low-income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year- round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network.

Low-income youth face tremendous obstacles to completing college and achieving their full potential. They often live in neighborhoods where the poverty and crime rates are extremely high, and the job and education opportunities are poor. According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 50% of low-income students graduate high school. Only 11% complete a four-year college within six years (Pell Institute, 2008 Report: Moving Beyond Access). This puts students from low-income communities at a serious disadvantage when it comes to having a chance at economic self-sufficiency, full civic participation, and to become leaders.