Please share your mission. 
iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower first-generation students from low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.
Describe how your organization lives/realizes its mission.
Our Chicago program is a regional expression of our national mission, customized and enhanced specifically to serve Chicago students and schools. iMentor is a growing national organization with programs in NYC, the Bay Area and Chicago. In 2016-17, iMentor will serve 8,000 students. We believe that talent is equally distributed – it’s opportunity that is not. iMentor is fighting to rebalance the odds and give every young person – and especially those that will be the first in their family to go to college –a fair chance to realize their dreams. If education is to continue being the lever for upward mobility and success, more must be done to improve the depth and quality of access and support that every student receives from high school through college completion. This is especially true in Chicago, where there is a wide gap between those that want to go to college and those that ultimately earn a college degree. 76% of CPS ninth graders report wanting to attain a college degree, yet only 18% of students will earn a degree within ten years of graduating, which is fewer than 1 in 5 Chicago students. iMentor Chicago’s program provides the personalized supports students need to make positive transition to and through college – working to close this widening attainment gap in our city.
