The tnAchieves Program seeks to send the student to college who would otherwise lack the opportunity. The program first launched in Knox County in October 2008. Since then, tnAchieves has worked with over 16,000 applicants and placed 7,000 students into community college – 65% being first generation college attendees and 65% coming from families who earn less than $50,000 annually. Students in the program have completed over 8,000 hours of community service. This year alone, the program will serve nearly 10,000 students – 3,500 from Memphis/Shelby. The retention rate of tnAchieves participants is nearly 74%, while Tennessee statewide retention is 51%.

Recently, Memphis City Mayor A C Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell along with Governor Bill Haslam launched Memphis/Shelby Achieves, an affiliate of tnAchieves. With the goal of increasing the higher education attainment and retention rates, tnAchieves seeks to provide every public high school senior from Memphis and Shelby County the opportunity to attend Southwest Tennessee Community College or Tennessee College of Applied Technology with mentor support.

tnAchieves is a last-dollar scholarship. This means tuition cost should no longer be an obstacle when a student is deciding to attend college. While all public high school seniors are eligible for tnAchieves, the program focuses primarily on students who are the first in their families to go to college.

Eliminating the funding obstacle is obviously important; however, the heart of tnAchieves is the opportunity for students to work with volunteer mentors.

The mission of tnAchieves is to increase higher education opportunities for Tennessee students by providing last dollar scholarships with mentor guidance.

For more information about mentoring with tnAchieves visit: https://www.tnachieves.org/a-mentor

If you have questions, please email Kaci Murley at [email protected]  or call 901.258.2177.