Updates
 
In 2005, the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program celebrated five years of helping low-income minority students afford college.
In 2006, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program expanded, and the Washington State Achievers Program celebrated its own five-year anniversary.  Read more

The Gates Millennium Scholarship program announced a $58 million expansion in 2006 that will enable more low-income minority students to pursue a graduate degree in public health. So far, more than 10,000 students have benefited from the scholarship program; a total of 20,000 students will receive college and graduate school scholarships over a 20-year period. Another scholarship program, the Washington State Achievers Program, celebrated its fifth year of creating new opportunities for low-income students. In its first five years, the program awarded college scholarships to nearly 2,500 students, many of whom are the first in their families to go to college.

 
 
In 2005, a broad coalition of leaders and advocates in Washington state sketched out a statewide strategy for early learning.
In 2006, the coalition launched Thrive by Five, a public–private partnership dedicated to increasing rates of school readiness among all Washington’s children.  Read more

Washington state’s business, government, and philanthropic leaders came together in 2006 to create Thrive by Five Washington, a public–private partnership designed to ensure that all the state’s children start kindergarten ready to succeed. The partnership, co-chaired by Bill Gates Sr. and Gov. Christine Gregoire, has raised pledges for an estimated $30 million over the next three years and aims to develop high-quality models of childcare, to educate parents, and to improve statewide standards for early learning. Thrive by Five Washington will work across the state, including in two demonstration communities—White Center and East Yakima—to increase opportunities for high-quality, affordable early learning in all settings. Thrive will work with the state’s Department of Early Learning to pilot a quality-rating and improvement system to help parents make more informed decisions about early learning programs for their children.

 
 
In 2005, a Florida State University report showed a fivefold increase in library connectedness since 1994.
In 2006, a new report confirmed that the vast majority of libraries are connected to the Internet. Still, only a fraction of branches have enough computers.  Read more

A foundation-funded national report released in September 2006 found that 99 percent of public libraries in the United States provide free access to the Internet, compared to just 25 percent a decade ago. But the Florida State University report also found that only 20 percent of library branches say they have enough computers, and 45 percent say they can’t meet user demands at least some of the time because of slow connection speeds. A separate study, which also received foundation support, found that Americans treasure their libraries: 78 percent of those polled said that something “essential and important” would be lost if their library had to shut down.

 

United States Overview

America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, but it simply isn’t for everyone. Inequities divide the country. Some people have to beat overwhelming odds just to have the same opportunities many of us take for granted.

Our education system is not preparing our young people for success. Every year, 1 million high school students drop out. The dropout problem is especially bad in certain areas. For example, less than 45 percent of kids who start public high school in Los Angeles will graduate. But right next door in the Santa Monica-Malibu School District the graduation rate is more than 80 percent. Students in L.A. don’t have the same chance to succeed in life, simply because of where they happen to live. There are more examples: In Washington state, home to some of the most dynamic businesses in the world, almost 200,000 children under the age of 18 live in poverty; impoverished children are at greater risk than their peers of dropping out of school, going to jail, and failing to find steady work. And Americans who live in rural communities are at a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to accessing computers and the Internet at their chronically underfunded public libraries.

We established the United States Program to reduce inequities and to increase access to opportunity so those with the greatest need and the fewest resources could have the same chance as everybody else to succeed. We work to accomplish these goals through the following portfolios of giving:

Education

  • Early Learning in Washington State: Helping make sure that all children in Washington state start learning before they begin school and begin kindergarten ready to succeed.

  • Increasing High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates: Significantly increasing the number of students—particularly low-income, Hispanic, and African-American students—who graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary for college and work.

  • Scholarships and College Access: Removing financial barriers to college for promising students who can’t afford it.

At-Risk Families and Children in the Pacific Northwest: In Washington state and Greater Portland, Oregon, increasing the numbers of low-income children and families who receive services that will help improve their lives; helping formerly homeless families become self-sufficient.

U.S. Libraries: Helping public libraries continue to offer free, high-quality computer and Internet services to low-income communities.

Special Initiatives: Exploring potential new areas of establishing and funding one-time opportunities in response to unique challenges and unanticipated events.

Advocacy: Calling attention to the problems in the United States that we focus on and motivating others to help solve them.

In 2006, we continued these efforts by expanding our strategy for improving high school education, celebrating some of our past successes to encourage others to adopt reform policies that work, and bringing more attention to the severity of the education crisis in this country.

We also formed a partnership with several organizations to help the Gulf Coast region recover from the 2005 hurricanes by assisting communities as they rebuild their public libraries.