Closing the Gap was founded on the principle of helping youth from seventh grade onward reach their highest potential through preparation, education, and vocation. We identify and support local, innovative programs that work to eliminate achievement and career gaps in our schools. Over the past 11 years, CTG has supported programs that serve under-served high school students with tutoring, SAT prep, and college admissions coaching, and has helped them set career goals that lead to success.
For the past 11 years, Closing the Gap has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to innovative programs that help students overcome the achievement gap. Together with and through the programs that have been funded, Closing the Gap is proud of the fact that:
- 1,700+ students have received college readiness counseling
- 1,800+ students received scholarships, financial aid, and tutoring
- Nearly 1,000 students participated in college tours
- Nearly 1,000 received SAT preparation
- 500+ received academic tutoring
Closing the Gap recognizes the need to provide students with robust, more abundant opportunities to achieve. Our strategy: identify and fund local programs that help local students overcome the achievement gap.
When a program applies to Closing the Gap for funding, our evaluation team vets the program’s impact, reviews its fiscal stability, and then makes a recommendation on whether to award a grant. Local programs that receive funding are often partnered with other funded programs to yield the biggest bang for every dollar Closing the Gap raises. Each year our reach to local students has increased to where our funded programs collectively touch thousands of students with tutoring, SAT prep, college admission coaching, and in-home counseling.
We live, work, and serve in and around the Sacramento region. These are our children, in our own backyard, in our community, and we are committed to helping them achieve their academic and career goals and dreams. In order to do this we believe that we must work towards eliminating the academic achievement gap.
Our Students
Learn how Closing the Gap has impacted the lives of students in the Sacramento region.
Funded Programs
Closing the Gap invests in community programs that help young people build the knowledge, confidence, skills, and support they need to pursue brighter futures.
During the 2025–2026 funding year, we were proud to support four organizations whose work advances education, leadership, college and career readiness, and hands-on learning.
Miracle University
Miracle University helps remove barriers that can interrupt a young person’s education. Through individualized support and expanded access to learning opportunities, the program helps high school students stay on track toward graduation and prepare for college, vocational training, and meaningful careers.
Keep Going, Sis
Keep Going, Sis empowers women and girls of color through education, mentorship, and leadership development. Its supportive programming helps participants strengthen their confidence, discover their voices, build practical leadership skills, and see themselves as capable changemakers in their schools and communities.
Nor Cal Student Athletes
Nor Cal Student Athletes combines the discipline of athletics with a strong commitment to academics, college readiness, and community service. The program encourages young athletes to succeed beyond the court by providing guidance, preparation, and opportunities that support their educational and career goals..
Wolfpack Youth Robotics
Wolfpack Youth Robotics gives high school students an engaging, team-based pathway into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By designing, building, and competing with robots, participants develop technical knowledge alongside creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and perseverance.
For the 2020-2021 school year, Closing the Gap funded the following programs:
Closing the Gap funded college campus tours for IYT students to Stanford, Berkeley and Sacramento State. Research has shown students once students attend a four year college, any academic achievement gap usually disappears within the student’s first year. Closing the Gap recognizes that data indicate young men of color have higher drop-out rates and lower academic achievement. IYT is a college prep program initially designed for African American and Latino males attending Valley High School. It’s Saturday classes are expanding to campuses across Sacramento County, bringing meaningful college readiness support to scores of students. The young men are role models and leaders on campus with 100% qualifying and applying for college.
Parent Teacher Home Visit Project (PTHVP)
CTG provided funding for college readiness visits at Luther Burbank High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento. PTHPV seeks to enhance family engagement and build capacity across the school community through voluntary and relational home visits. Jointly, the family and the staff build trust, communication and plans for each student’s success.
Criminal Justice Magnet Academy at Grant, Johnson, McClatchy and Kennedy High Schools. Closing the Gap provided college mentoring, SAT preparation courses, as well as college/vocational school scholarships to Academy students. The majority of these youth are the first in their families to attend college.