Purpose/What is the Rising Star Program?
The Rising Star Program was created by the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) and its Foundation to provide incentives and encouragement for students to stay in high school and graduate. With a dropout rate of 40% for Dallas County and an even higher 60% rate in Dallas ISD, the need for the Rising Star program is critical to the future of employers, employees and communities in the area. The two- year pilot program was launched in 1999 with 27 high schools in the southern sector of Dallas County. DCCCD and its Foundation believed that financial need should not be a barrier to higher education and the county area high school drop out rate was astonishing (the second worse in the nation). It was believed that for many young people, lack of financial resources was a reason for dropping out of school and/or not pursuing a college education and training. Therefore, the Rising Star program was developed to target a group of these high school students and offer them the opportun
