Community leaders all around the QCA are working on a plan to bring drop-out numbers down and keep kids in school.  The plan is called Achieve Quad Cities.

Margaret Lewis of The United Way Of The Quad Cities says, "Every time that a student drops out of school there's an economic impact and an impact on our entire community."

Lewis says, on average, 3 Quad City kids drop out of school every day.  The United Way is teaming up with The Community Foundation to launch the new campaign to address drop-out rates.  "What we hope to do with Achieve is to bring more resources and power of the community to the schools in order to help them do their work that they're trying to do," says Lewis.

The program is a direct result of the Vitality Scan - a Quad City-wide survey taken a few years ago about quality of life in the area.  One of the biggest issues to come out of the survey was poverty. "Addressing the drop-out rate in order to address the areas of poverty and ensuring that we have students that are ready and viable to either go on to work, on to a 4-year school, a 2-year school, to trade school, to join the military, so they're prepared and productive citizens."

The program includes things like internships, career expos, and one-on-one career counseling - all designed to show kids why school is not only necessary, but can help them feel connected to their future. "Whether we have 1 drop-out a year, or we have 500 a year," Lewis says, "We need to ensure that the community wraps their arms around the schools and around those youth to ensure that they have the support they need to be successful."

Achieve Quad Cities should be in area schools this fall.  A big part of the program will be career navigators: people to help students explore job possibilities.

If you're interested in getting involved and talking to kids about what you do, contact The United Way Of The Quad Cities Area.