We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Ragland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

5 Strong has been serving black and brown students from underserved areas in the metropolitan Atlanta and Houston areas since 2016.

“Support” is the operative word when it comes to solving the problem re: the low 42% black college student graduation rate. By partnering with select Historically Black Colleges and Universities, local HBCU Alumni Organizations, and local mentorship/leadership programs for youth, 5 Strong has been able to help provide tuition scholarships, college prep services, and ongoing support and mentorship needed to help make sure our scholars are successful in college and after graduation.

5 Strong is also working to help “Close the racial wealth gap” by working to make sure our scholars graduate in 4 years with $0 to minimal student loan debt.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have over 25 years of experience in public school education. I am a member of the 1990 inaugural cohort of Teach For America. My first 3 years of teaching was in the 9th Ward in New Orleans, La. The last 12 years I was a high school counselor for Atlanta Public Schools. I focused on my students graduating from high school, applying to college, getting accepted into college, and getting scholarship funding.

My concern came when I started noticing many of our school’s students were returning home from college after 1 or 2 years because of either a lack of funding, lack of support, or both. 5 Strong was specifically designed to provide funding and support to students from underserved areas (especially students with strong GPA’s but not the best test scores).

5 Strong is working to solve 2 critical issues: 1) the dismally low 42% Black College Student Graduation Rate and 2) To Help Close the Racial Wealth Gap by working to make sure our scholars graduate with $0 to minimal student loan debt.

What sets 5 Strong apart from other scholarships / mentoring programs is that 5 Strong is not just a scholarship we are a scholarship program. After being interviewed and selected our scholars must commit to attending one of our partnering HBCUs and commit to being a 5 Strong Scholar from the 2nd semester of their senior year in high school until they graduate from college. Also, no other scholarship/mentorship program is solely created to work specifically in partnership with HBCUs.

Their commitment includes attending our mandatory College Ready Prep Sessions. The Prep Sessions are designed to make sure our scholars are “HBCU College Ready” and to help make sure they have a very successful freshman year. Our prep sessions cover topics such as: “Balancing Academics and Social Life,” “Building Relationships with Professors and Advisors,” “Dealing with mental health,” “Enhancing you study habits,” to name a few. Part of the prep sessions also include taking each cohort of scholars to visit/tour the HBCU campus they will be attending. Hot meals are provided at each session and a college sendoff takes place after the sessions are over.

The second part of their commitment is that our scholars must submit their mid semester and end of semester grades to the 5 Strong staff each semester. This allows us to track our scholars academic success and to make sure they stay on track to keep their scholarships and graduate in 4 years.

I am most proud of our amazing 5 Strong Scholars. Our scholars have a 75% Graduation Rate. Our scholars are leaders and are actively involved on their HBCU Campuses. Our graduates have attending graduate schools at Clark Atlanta University, John Hopkins University, Iowa State University, University of Florida, Morehouse School of Medice, North Carolina A&T to name a few.

I am also proud of the growth of 5 Strong. We currently have 14 HBCU partners, approximately 200 scholars on those campuses, and we are recruiting and selecting amazing scholars from Metro Atlanta, Ga and Houston, Tx.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I can honestly say that Social Media has been a major factor in building 5 Strong’s reputation within our market. 5 Strong has a Facebook Page, and Instagram page, and a LinkedIn Page. We market 5 Strong on our social media pages by sharing the successes and the amazing things our scholars are doing on their campuses.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The first 4 years of 5 Strong’s existence, we only had volunteers. Myself and a group of dedicated individuals that truly believed in 5 Strong’s mission helped grow 5 Strong while working full time jobs. Thanks to the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Families Philanthropies (that also believed in 5 Strong’s mission) for providing the grant funding that allowed 5 Strong to get paid, full time employees.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.5strongscholars.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5_strong_scholars/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5strongscholars?fref=ts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-h-ragland-a5812264/
• Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCnWKw2kjRXBpJPEJpH-JPYg/videos