DETROIT – Chevrolet along with the Get Schooled Foundation, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and Viacom today announced a partnership to launch a friendly competition among 17 Detroit high schools to increase class attendance rates.
Through April 27, more than 10,000 students attending United Way’s 17 “Networks of Excellence” schools in Metro Detroit will compete for a chance to host a Get Schooled event featuring a celebrity guest who will serve as “Principal for a Day.” Chevrolet and Viacom are sponsoring the competition.
“We need to help students succeed. As I have said before, it’s about doing the right thing by giving kids a great education. Absenteeism is a threat to that education.” said General Motors North America President Mark Reuss, who is also a GM Foundation board member. “Get Schooled builds excitement by encouraging attendance and is a great example of community partnership.”
In 2010, the General Motors Foundation donated $27.1 million to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to create a “Network of Excellence” of seven existing area high schools with the goals of dramatically increasing graduation rates and ultimately rebuilding the area’s skilled workforce. The money, which is the largest donation in the 34-year history of the GM Foundation, is aimed at reducing the nearly 50 percent dropout rate in parts of Metro Detroit where the most manufacturing jobs have been lost in recent years.
The breakdown of the donation includes $5 million a year for the next five years plus $425,000 a year for five Early Childhood Learning Communities.
