Posse Foundation, Chicago

The Posse Foundation is a nationally recognized leadership development and college success program that identifies, recruits, and trains diverse teams—Posses—of public high school students and sends them to top colleges and universities. To date, more than 12,000 Posse Scholars have been accepted into top-tier institutions of higher education throughout the country. These young people have received more than $2 billion in full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s 60+ college and university partners and graduate at rates of 90 percent. 

Posse’s unique and carefully structured, three-month selection process identifies candidates using criteria beyond academic achievement, including leadership and ability to work constructively with people from diverse backgrounds. Posse’s high school through college programming makes it one of the most comprehensive programs in the nation. In 2010, The Posse Foundation was identified by President Obama as one of 10 national non-profit organizations to receive a portion of his Nobel Peace Prize grant and Posse’s president and founder received a MacArthur “Genius” award in 2007. 

Posse’s 2023 budget of $31 million supports programs in Atlanta, Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Washington, D.C., as well as Veterans, Virtual, Arts and Puerto Rico programs.