Our Mission
We partner with ambitious, academically motivated, low-income students who aspire to be first generation college graduates. We make a long-term commitment to students on their journey to and through college, unlocking the power of education and a lifetime of opportunity.
Our ten-year, tuition-free program arms students with the resources, relationships, and resolve necessary to succeed in high school, in college, and beyond.
The Breakthrough Model
Our model is grounded in three key elements proven to accelerate student learning and success: resources, relationships, and resolve.
Resources
Relationships
Resolve
BTNY provides educational and social enrichment resources throughout the year. BTNY provides personalized high school and college admissions guidance for our students and families. Students explore high school and college choices through school options workshops and in-person college visits, attend writing workshops for personal narratives, and receive rigorous test prep.
Near-peer mentorships—where students work closely with young professionals close in age and/or experience—provide students with the relational support needed to build their confidence, skills, and social capital as they navigate their college journeys and pathways into the workforce. BTNY provides networking, informational interviewing, and internship opportunities, which help shape students’ college and career success.
By providing consistent, rigorous, and relationship-driven academic and social support to our students over 10 years, BTNY fosters their resolve to persist through each educational milestone, focusing on crucial points at which many of their peers are most vulnerable to falling behind: summer, and the transitions between high school and college.