Montana Philanthropy Transforms Graduation Rates with $1.3 million in total foundation and corporate giving to Graduation Matters.

Since 2009, the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation http://www.dpwfoundation.org/ has granted $900,000 to help Graduation Matters Montana increase graduation rates in 53 communities. After the initial grant of $450,000 in 2009, the family foundation has helped the state has reached an all-time high of 86% of students graduating, cutting the drop-out rate by more than a third.

Now in its fifth year, the Graduation Matters recipe for success is focused on family involvement and community partnerships.

We have found in everything we do, if you don’t have strong parent involvement from the get-go, your chances of success are reduced considerably," explained Mike Halligan, Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation executive director. "If mom or dad don’t think this important, it won’t work. If homework isn’t getting done, you need to be able to call them, talk about the issues confronting the student and family, and figure out a plan to work together to help."

Caitlin Copple, Montana-Idaho-Wyoming Correspondent

Full Story: https://philanthropynw.org/news/montana-philanthropy-transforms-graduation-rates