DROPOUT PREVENTION LEADERSHIP SUMMIT – MAY 6, 2009

The Committee for Dropout Prevention in conjunction with The Academic Talent Search Program at Canisius College, and the City of Buffalo will host its First Annual High School Dropout Prevention Summit on May 6, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Canisius College 2001 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14208. Andrew Moore of the National League of Cities will be the Keynote Speaker.

Nationwide, nearly 1 in 3 high school students drop out before graduating. In total, approximately 1.2 million students drop out of school-about 7,000 every school day, or one every 26 seconds!

The primary goal of The City of Buffalo Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit is to spotlight the problem as a community concern and to bring public awareness to the challenges we face in ensuring that “at-risk” students stay in school and graduate.

The first objective is to foster consensus among stakeholders and the public concerning the urgency of the problem and the need for a collaborative effort to alleviate it.

The second objective is to induce business leaders, community leaders, faith-based institutions, educators (P-12 and higher education), healthcare providers, policy makers, nonprofit organizations and youth to commit to a city-wide dropout prevention call to action.

The City of Buffalo Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit will serve to raise public awareness of the day-to-day challenges faced by students “at risk” to obtain a high school diploma and in so doing create a sense of urgency to reduce Buffalo's drop-out rate.

Sponsors include the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County, Kaleida Health, the Western New York Law Center, Buffalo Public School System, True Bethel Baptist Church, Erie 1 BOCES, Buffalo Teachers Federation and Senator Antoine Thompson. The summit is “free” to participants. Attendees may register for summit workshops on the City of Buffalo Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit’s website; www.bflodropoutprevention.org.

Organizations and individuals are welcome to sponsor this worthwhile project. For more information please call (716) 855.0203 or visit: http://bflodropoutprevention.org/default.aspx and http://bflodropoutprevention.org/schedule.aspx.

DROPOUT DATA

Contact(s):
Joy McDuffie (Chair)

(716) 855-0203 ext 103

Elizabeth Caffee (Coordinator)

(716) 888-3281