Smith Joins American Talent Initiative

Smith has joined 67 of the nation’s most respected colleges and universities in an alliance to substantially expand the number of talented low- and moderate-income students at America’s undergraduate institutions with the highest graduation rates.

This growing alliance—called the American Talent Initiative, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies—brings together a diverse set of public and private institutions united in this common goal. ATI members will enhance their own efforts to recruit, enroll and support lower-income students, learn from each other, and contribute to research that will help other colleges and universities expand opportunity.

Smith President Kathleen McCartney said the new initiative builds on Smith’s strong history of leadership on issues related to access and opportunity.

“I am proud to commit Smith College to this national movement for education access,” she said, “and eager to share our experience with other institutions who share our goals.”

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025.

Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions. ATI’s goal is to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025. To reach this ambitious goal, ATI aims to add more top-performing colleges to its membership in the coming months and years.

Additional information about the American Talent Initiative is online.