Rock Your Block joins America’s Promise Alliance and its Grad Nation Campaign

SAN FRANCISCO - May 28, 2014 - PRLog -- Rock Your Block today announced they have become a partner of America’s Promise Alliance (America’s Promise) and will work with them to help reduce the nation’s high school dropout rate and ensure that America’s children and youth have the resources they need to lead healthy, successful lives.

Rock Your Block’s mission is to provide all youth the access to find and apply to job opportunities, building the next generation of innovators and business rockstars.  Our platform helps young people find opportunities to make money, gain experience, and build a virtual resume that showcases their work and reviews from employers. Research shows that youth who work are more likely to graduate and more likely to secure employment later in life.

Founded in 1997 with General Colin Powell as its founding chair, America’s Promise is the nation’s largest partnership dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth. Its strong national network of more than 400 partners is comprised of organizations representing all sectors of American life. Through America’s Promise, these partners are working together to end the dropout crisis and see that more children and youth experience the Five Promises in their lives—Caring Adults, Safe Places, A Healthy Start, Effective Education, and Opportunities to Help Others.

“We are excited to join the Alliance because we know that connecting young people with real-world work experience is vital to their development and path toward success in their future endeavors,” said Sarah Young, CEO of Rock Your Block. “Rock Your Block is working hard to reduce our nation’s youth unemployment crisis, and The Alliance will help us ensure that more US teens have access to opportunities for gaining these essential life skills through their very first jobs.”

As an official partner, Rock Your Block will support and take part in the work of America’s Promise to ensure that more of the nation’s young people experience the Five Promises and are prepared to finish high school prepared for college and the 21st century workforce. Rock Your Block will also be an active partner in supporting the work of the Grad Nation campaign, a large and 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.
“Creating stronger communities where youth feel supported and encouraged is essential to America’s future strength and vitality,” said John Gomperts, president and CEO of America's Promise Alliance. “By coming together in common purpose, we demonstrate our commitment and the fact that we all have a role to play in the success of our children and youth, and we are infinitely more powerful as a united force.  We’re thrilled that Rock Your Block has joined this movement.”

The work of America’s Promise includes signature initiatives like the 100 Best Communities for Young People competition and Grad Nation Communities. America’s Promise also supports and distributes numerous reports highlighting the latest research and data for communities and youth development practitioners. This includes the annual Building a Grad Nation report on the dropout crisis as well as resources on parental engagement, career exploration and communications.  As a partner, Rock Your Block will have early access to all America’s Promise commissioned research, tools and information.