Achieve Atlanta Names Executive Director

ATLANTA – June 5, 2015 – Achieve Atlanta, an independent initiative to dramatically increase the number of Atlanta students completing post-secondary education, will launch this fall under the leadership of Executive Director Tina Fernandez.

Today, less than one in four ninth-graders in Atlanta Public Schools graduates from college within six years of their high school graduation date.

“Achieve Atlanta’s goal is to significantly improve the college graduation rate,” said Bill Rogers, board chair of Achieve Atlanta and Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks. “With top-notch leadership from Tina Fernandez and sound partnerships with Atlanta organizations, this initiative is building the foundation for student success and fulfilling the promise of Atlanta’s future.”

Achieve Atlanta was created in 2014 by an innovative partnership among The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and Atlanta Public Schools (APS). The initiative will engage and align philanthropic, civic and public resources and programs to support students’ journeys to and through college. Achieve Atlanta is led by a volunteer board, comprised of the following:

•  Bill Rogers – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SunTrust Banks, Inc.
•  Claire L. Arnold – Chief Executive Officer, Leapfrog Services
•  Mark P. Becker – President, Georgia State University
•  Ernest L. Greer – Managing Partner, Greenberg Traurig
•  Alicia Philipp – President, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
•  Beverly Tatum – President, Spelman College

Tina Fernandez was selected to lead Achieve Atlanta after a months-long search. Fernandez graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and spent two years as a bilingual elementary school teacher in the Bronx, New York City with Teach for America. She earned her law degree from Columbia University in 1999 and practiced law in Austin, Texas for five years before joining the University of Texas (UT) School of Law. At UT, Fernandez served as a clinical professor, oversaw a professional development program that operates the largest public interest law job fair in the state, and launched UT Law’s Pro Bono Program, which engaged students, lawyers and community members to deliver legal services to low-income individuals. Fernandez has also served on Teach for America’s executive team for alumni affairsand was a member of IDEA Public Schools’ national board of directors. She most recently worked as a partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a nonprofit consulting firm that provides policy analysis, talent services and strategic advising for education organizations in order to achieve dramatic impact for kids. In Atlanta, Fernandez sits on the board of the Latin American Association and has been appointed by Governor Deal to Georgia’s Education Reform Commission.

“Tina’s background in education strategy, talent and policy consulting made her the perfect choice for Achieve Atlanta’s extraordinary initiative,” said Alicia Philipp, president of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

Fernandez will leverage more than 20 years of education experience to champion college access and persistence for APS students. She will help put in place the systems, support, partnerships and advocacy needed to catalyze long-term student success.

“As a Latina from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, I have experienced firsthand the transformative power of education and the lack of opportunity that so many low-income children face. As a mother of two APS students here in Atlanta, I am personally and professionally committed to ensuring that all of Atlanta’s children get to and through college,” said Fernandez.

Under Fernandez’s leadership, Achieve Atlanta will invest in strategies, technologies and processes that help APS students attain post-secondary success by:

• Ensuring students receive consistent, top-quality college advising beginning in the ninth grade that will prepare them for post-secondary education;
• Piloting innovative strategies for mobilizing community and civic support to meet students’ needs;
• Offering financial assistance to help students enroll in and persist through college; and
• Providing academic and social supports to help students succeed in and graduate from college.

“Achieve Atlanta is a bold, aggressive plan to help us radically improve our students’ college enrollment and graduation rates, and we have high hopes for our partnership,” said Meria J. Carstarphen, Ed.D., superintendent of APS. “Tina is a transformative innovator, and I am confident that her leadership will help advance our vision of a city where every student graduates ready for college and career.”

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About Achieve Atlanta
Achieve Atlanta is committed to increasing the number of Atlanta Public School students who complete post-secondary education. As an independent 501(c)(3) organization, established in 2014 and governed by a board of directors drawn from a cross-section of visionary Atlanta leaders, the program is based in national best practices, current research and performance data. Substantial initial funding from the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation will support this model for improving post-secondary success, beginning in the ninth grade through college completion and career readiness.

About Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the state of Georgia, serving approximately 50,000 students across 106 learning sites. The district is organized into nine K-12 clusters with 87 schools, 17 charter schools and two citywide single-gender academies, where students are offered rigorous instructional programs that foster success in school and life. For more information, visit www.atlantapublicschools.us.

About The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Since 1951, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has been connecting donors, nonprofits and community leaders to strengthen the Atlanta region through philanthropy. By connecting the passions of our donors with the purposes they strive to improve, The Community Foundation provides quality services to donors and innovative leadership on community issues. Lead by four goals: engaging philanthropists; strengthening nonprofits; advancing public will; and practicing organizational excellence, in 2014, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta received more than $80 million from donors (unaudited) and the Foundation distributed more than $107 million to support nonprofits throughout the 23-county region and beyond. For more information, visit: www.cfgreateratlanta.org.

About the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation

Joseph B. Whitehead Jr. established the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation in 1937 as a memorial to his father. He specified that the Foundation’s giving should aid the poor and needy in Atlanta, and children in particular. The Foundation has awarded more than $808 million in grants since inception. Grants are limited to organizations located and operating in metro Atlanta.

The Foundation makes grants in five program areas: early childhood education, K-12 education, children and youth, human services and health. The Foundation is responsive to the needs of the community and typically makes grants to well-established institutions and projects with strong leadership and a broad base of support. The Foundation seeks to help organizations with a proven track record of success stretch further to seize new opportunities or to meet extraordinary needs. For more information, visit https://jbwhitehead.org/.

For more information:

Elyse Hammett, APR
Representing Achieve Atlanta for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Vice President, Public Relations
404.949.3772
elyse.hammett@phase3mc.com

Brittany Gibson
Representing Achieve Atlanta for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
PR Manager
251.363.6762
brittany.gibson@phase3mc.com