For foundations and philanthropic partners
Most grants report activity. This one reports a number.
GPS for Life exists to close the access gap for students who have nobody to ask. In the districts where that gap is widest, the school cannot pay for it. A foundation can — and can see, in the referee's own figures, whether it worked.
The baseline is already published. Here is Bridgeport's.
Every figure below is from the Connecticut State Department of Education's own district profile. None of it is ours. That is the point: the starting line is public, so the finish line can be too.
of Bridgeport's Class of 2023 entered college within a year of graduating
Connecticut: 68.4%
of those who entered came back for a second year
Connecticut: 87.2%
of Bridgeport's 19,591 students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals
Connecticut: 44.0%
The second number is the one almost nobody funds. A quarter of every Bridgeport cohort that reaches college does not come back for sophomore year. Getting in is measured everywhere; staying is measured almost nowhere, and it is where the money and the effort are actually lost.
Inside the 52% there are gaps the average hides:
- English learners35.0%—
- Students with disabilities28.2%—
- Eligible for free or reduced-price meals48.2%—
- Male students44.3%—
- All students52.0%68.4%
Two more figures matter to how this product works:
- Chronically absent29.1%17.7%
- Meeting a postsecondary readiness benchmark26.2%44.3%
- Counselors, social workers and psychologists120.8for 19,591
Source. Connecticut State Department of Education, District Profile and Performance Report, Bridgeport School District, 2023–24, printed 21 January 2025. College entrance and persistence from the National Student Clearinghouse. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
What we are willing to be held to.
A promise is only worth making if someone else keeps the score. So the measure is the National Student Clearinghouse — the same source the state uses — and the baseline is the district's own published figure, not one we chose.
We report every year, in public, whether the number moved. If it did not, we say so.
In a district we serve, we commit to closing half the gap to the state's college-entrance rate within three years.
For Bridgeport that means moving the pilot cohort from 52% toward 60% — roughly 100 more students in college the year after they graduate, from a class of about 1,300.
And a second commitment, because getting in is not the point: persistence to sophomore year at or above the state average for the students we worked with, against a district baseline of 73%.
Measured by the Clearinghouse. Reported annually. Nothing self-declared.
What gets measured, and who measures it.
Every figure a student sees in GPS for Life carries its source and date. The same discipline applies to what we report about ourselves. Four measures, each with an independent referee.
- FAFSA completionThe share of seniors who filed, against the district's published baseline. From the 2026–27 cycle this is a graduation condition in Connecticut, so it will be tracked whether or not we are there.Referee: CSDE FAFSA completion dashboard, by district.
- College entranceThe share of graduates enrolled anywhere within one year, for the cohort we worked with, against the district's prior three-year average.Referee: National Student Clearinghouse, via CSDE.
- PersistenceThe share of those who entered and returned for a second year. This is the number we think matters most and the one least often reported.Referee: National Student Clearinghouse, via CSDE.
- Deadlines met and dollars not lostState and federal aid deadlines resolved for each student, and whether they were met — the mechanism by which the money actually arrives.Referee: the product's own log, exportable to the district, with every deadline's source and date.
What we will not report. Engagement, log-ins, time on screen, or any figure that measures our product rather than a student's life. If a foundation wants those, we would rather not take the grant.
What a foundation funds that a district cannot.
GPS for Life is bought by districts, per student, and it is free to every family. In Westport that is a line item. In Bridgeport, where 86% of students qualify for free meals and the per-pupil budget is already below the state's, the same line item competes with teachers.
A foundation grant covers the per-student cost for a district that cannot, for a defined cohort and a defined term, against a defined baseline. That is the whole ask. There is no platform fee, no capacity-building line, no evaluation budget — the measurement is built into the product and the referee is the state.
And every student keeps her record. When the grant ends, nothing she built is taken away.
The shape of an engagement
Term. Three years — long enough for one cohort to be measured from junior year to sophomore-year persistence.
Cohort. One or two high schools, grades 11–12, chosen with the district.
Baseline. The district's published figures for the three prior classes.
Reporting. Annual, public, referee-sourced. The foundation, the district and the students see the same numbers.
Exit. If the number has not moved by year two, we say so, and the foundation decides whether year three happens.
We are looking for the first foundation willing to fund a number rather than a program.
If your mission touches access, mobility or the outcomes of students who start without an advantage, we would like to show you the product, the district we are in conversation with, and exactly what you would receive at the end of year one.
On the numbers above. Baselines are CSDE's, retrieved 15 September 2026. The commitments are ours, and they are commitments, not projections: we will report against them whether or not they are met.