We Refuse to Lose: Case Studies

Since 2019, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported five communities — Buffalo, NY; Chattanooga, TN; Dallas, TX, the Rio Grande Valley, TX; and Tacoma, WA — that are working to close racial gaps for students journeying from early education to their careers. Community leaders — especially those who work to support youth in their educational and career pathways — can now read case studies on the five communities to hear about how they helped young people work towards their career goals across different regional contexts. 

No one entity alone in the educational or employment space can do the work of helping to make educational and employment systems more equitable and accessible for young people of color and young people experiencing poverty. These case studies highlight the experiences of communities from very different regions of the United States coming together around shared goals. Other community leaders can learn and understand from their spectrum of experiences about building more equitable pathways for young people of color and young people experiencing poverty. 

The case studies contain in-depth narratives of what the work looked like to help young people achieve their career goals across five communities. The case studies also detail how these communities dealt with the impacts of the COVID pandemic.

Read all of the community profiles here.