Closing the Gap
Closing the Achievement Gap in Sacramento
Funding local programs that empower underserved youth through education, mentorship, and opportunity.
What We Do
A group of leaders in the Sacramento area founded Closing the Gap with the mission of funding nonprofit organizations committed to reducing the academic achievement gap in the region.
We seek to help youth reach their highest potential through preparation, education, and vocation.
Through the generosity of local sponsors, Closing the Gap has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to local programs that have helped more than 1,000 students avoid the achievement gap. Additionally, we have identified and funded local, nascent programs that are innovative and grass-roots in nature and have flourished into highly recognized examples of how the achievement gap can be diminished, if not eliminated, in our schools.
By supporting these local programs that provide tutoring, college counseling, career guidance, and real-world experience to students from 8th grade and up, Closing the Gap is increasing students’ academic performance and preparing them for college, a successful career, and a bright future.
Moving the Needle | Closing the Gap Program Dinner, Celebration & Discussion
On February 27, 2020, the Closing the Gap Foundation hosted its Moving the Needle Forward: Program Dinner with Improve Your Tomorrow, College Track, the Sacramento Police Foundation – Criminal Justice Academy, Cosumnes Wolfpack Robotics, and the California Department of Education. Given that many of us have developed, implemented or assessed our efforts to close the academic and or career gaps across a number of communities (local, state and or national), it is increasingly evident that while there have been gains over the years, far too many of our Latino, African American and economically disadvantaged white children are still lagging behind and or “failing out” of our P/K-12 educational institutions.
Few goals in education have been as frustrating and urgent as the deep, generational achievement gap between the haves and the have-nots in California schools.
It is an article of faith in the K-12 school system that every student — regardless of race, creed, wealth, or color — can and should be academically successful. But in measures from standardized tests to dropout rates to college completion, the achievement gap has persisted in cities, rural communities, and suburbs, a sign that opportunity is not yet equal for many children in California classrooms.
What is the Achievement Gap?
It’s uncomfortable to talk about, but even worse to ignore. Latinos and African American students are generally underperforming in school by their Asian and White peers. In Sacramento County, Asian and white students are more likely to graduate high school than other students of color, and they are more likely to earn the grades needed to attend a four-year university.
More than 1,000 underserved students in Sacramento-area public schools benefit each year from our programs.