New Public Service Campaign Aims To Keep Philadelphia Kids In School
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The city is launching a public service campaign today aimed at preventing kids from dropping out of high school.
The videos tell students that staying in school is the key to earning what's yours in life.
Philadelphia's overall ninth-grade graduation rate -- once around 50 percent -- has inched up in recent years, but Cynthia Figueroa, Congreso president and co-chair of Project U-Turn, says there's more to do.
"It's improved," she says. "It has gotten much better, but it's still not where it needs to be. We're in the 60 percentile. Unfortunately, as it related to both African-American and Latino youth, the percentages have not improved."
The campaign includes posters and billboards. Figueroa says the videos are being spread through social media.