America's Promise Alliance has announced a three-year, $3 million grant from Target in support of its Grad Nation Campaign, a ten-year initiative that aims to end the dropout crisis and better prepare young people for college and the twenty-first century workforce.

The grant will support development of the Grad Nation Knowledge Center, an online portal designed to help communities acquire, interpret, and use local knowledge and evidence-based best practices to support dropout prevention and youth development efforts; the Grad Nation Business Collaborative, which will bring local and national business leaders together for a series of roundtable discussions to examine how the business community can better support low-performing schools; and the second annual Building a Grad Nation Summit, to be held next spring.

With its commitment, Target joins the Powell Leadership Circle, an elite group of foundation, corporate, and individual philanthropists who have donated $1 million or more per year to support the D.C.-based alliance's work. The circle was named after alliance founding chair General Colin Powell and his wife, Alma Powell, the organization's current chair.

"Target's commitment to communities and education — especially K-3 literacy — is well known and at a level that truly sets them apart in the world of corporate philanthropy," said America's Promise Alliance president and CEO Marguerite W. Kondracke. "Target understands that by investing in our young people we are contributing to the strengthening of communities, and that's good for business. This partnership will help communities access the best information we have on how to improve outcomes for young people and engage more business partners in this work."