LECTURES

Speaker: Colin L. Powell, former U.S. secretary of state; former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and founding chairman, America’s Promise Alliance

General Powell will discuss education, America’s Promise Alliance, and why we have to become a Grad Nation.

Founded in 1997 with General Colin Powell as chairman and chaired today by Alma Powell, America’s Promise Alliance is a cross-sector partnership of 400+ national organizations representing nonprofit groups, businesses, communities, educators, and policymakers dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth. In 2010, America’s Promise Alliance launched Grad Nation, a growing movement of dedicated individuals, organizations and communities working together to end the dropout crisis. The goal of Grad Nation is to raise the national high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020, with no school graduating fewer than 80 percent of its students on time.