Bottom Line's Impact: Celebrating 10 Years in New York City

Thinking about college provokes a mix of excitement and angst for high school students. For many, applying to and attending college are a normal rite of passage. But for many students in the U.S., particularly from low-income backgrounds, the idea of getting into college feels daunting and foreign. In 1997, Dave Borgal founded Bottom Line to help 25 seniors from Roxbury, Boston get accepted to college. After 14 years of growth, service, and program evolution in Massachusetts, Bottom Line expanded to New York City. Since 2011, beginning with its inaugural class of 121 high school seniors and 22 first-year college students, Bottom Line has helped thousands of first-generation New York City students from low-income backgrounds get into college, persist in college, and earn their degrees. To commemorate the 10 years that Bottom Line has supported New York City students from underserved communities, this report examines the impact the nonprofit has had on its participants and their communities. [This report was co-published by Bottom Line.]