NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Persist Nashville, a non-profit that empowers Nashville students to earn a college degree, celebrated with its partner Slalom, a global consulting firm, successful efforts to expand its outreach and support across more Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) high school students.
In 2019, Persist Nashville started in response to the crisis that less than one-quarter of Nashville high school graduates went on to earn a college degree—barely half the national average. In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, MNPS student college enrollment rates dropped by 15% compared to previous years, mostly impacting Black and LatinX students, where only 21% and 18%, respectively, earned their two-year, four-year, or technical degree.
Persist Nashville’s team of professional coaches and educators knew it could help more students navigate the path from high school graduation to earning a college degree, helping more students enroll and persist in college. In fact, doubling the college graduation rate seemed possible. But the organization realized its manual, time-consuming processes were holding it back.
“Too many students and families were missing the support they needed, and we didn’t have the information we needed or the processes to respond to student needs effectively and quickly,” said Scott Campbell, Executive Director, Persist Nashville. “When we looked for help and found it with Slalom, we recognized the potential. Slalom’s team helped us transform our strategy, processes, technology, and ultimately our impact on this community for the better.”
By using Salesforce—one of Slalom’s largest technology partners—Persist Nashville can now automate its outreach and tracking efforts so that the organization can spend more time empowering students to overcome barriers to college enrollment and persistence. Using the platform means no more manual spreadsheet updates—and many more opportunities to optimize processes and drive better results.
“In less than one year since launching our Nashville office, I’m absolutely thrilled that Slalom is already positively impacting our community,” said Don Piluso, General Manager, Slalom Nashville. “The partnership with Persist demonstrates rapid success upon implementation, in which right now the nonprofit has rolled out a Senior survey to more than 2,000 public high school students who will graduate this academic year, and over 90% of those students have opted in to receive coaching from Persist. That’s twice the number of students they’ve been able to support in the past.”
“We are so inspired by Persist Nashville’s vision to double college graduation rates for its high school graduates,” said Jantzen Bridges, General Manager, Slalom Salesforce. “One of Slalom’s core values, is ‘to build and shape a better future,’ and we believe in the power of the Salesforce platform to help Persist spend more time coaching and caring for its student base and to ultimately amplify its positive impact on the Nashville area.”
Learn more about how Slalom helps organizations build a better future with Salesforce.
About Slalom
Slalom is a global consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation. In 43 markets around the world, Slalom's teams have autonomy to move fast and do what's right. They are backed by regional innovation hubs, a global culture of collaboration, and partnerships with the world's top technology providers. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Seattle, Slalom has organically grown to over 12,500 employees. Slalom has been named one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For seven years running and is regularly recognized by employees as a best place to work. Learn more at slalom.com.
About Persist Nashville
Persist Nashville is a 501c3 nonprofit and community-based organization that empowers Nashville graduates to earn a college degree. Since 2019 their team of educators have served over 2500 graduates of Nashville public schools and have helped students enroll at rates more than 30% better than their peers. Persist Nashville serves all graduates of Nashville schools regardless of their post-secondary education choice (2-year, 4-year, in-state, out-of-state, public, private, or trade schools). Persist Nashville supports students through text-based coaching, student leadership development, emergency microgrants, and career mentorship and development. Learn more at www.persistnashville.org.
Media Contact: press@slalom.com
