Our Challenge Identifying obstacles and barriers that prevent Trenton students from succeeding
Academic Obstacles Trenton, New Jersey’s culturally rich capital city, is home to vibrant, fun, and exciting events like “Art All Night” and Trenton Thunder minor league baseball games. However, as a predominantly minority and low-income community, Trentonians face severe systemic injustices and challenging circumstances. Limited funding and resources, coupled with housing instability and systemic violence, has led to chronic absenteeism and failing school systems. According to the Department of Education’s most recent NJ School Performance Summary Report in 2016-2017, of the 13,082 students enrolled in the Trenton School District, 80.5% are not meeting expectations on English state standards and nearly 100% do not meet expectations on math state standards.1 Only 70.1% of the students graduate from high school, and only 18.4% attend 4-year colleges.2 High schoolers report having a lack of hope in Trenton and feeling unsafe.3
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