The Posse Foundation was founded by Deb Biel in 1989. Noticing the low retention & graduation rates of first-generation college students with full financial scholarships and support from colleges and universities, Biel sought to understand those numbers. She discovered that these particular students experienced incredible isolation and lacked the social and emotional network needed to be successful on a college campus. Today, Posse is one of the most comprehensive college access and youth leadership development programs in the US.
Posse partners with elite colleges and universities to award full-tuition & merit scholarships to a group of ten “Posse Scholars” each year. These Scholars attend college outside their hometown cities together to provide critical peer support for one another.
The comprehensive Posse Program ensures that Scholars persist and graduate with the skills, resources, and community they need to excel.
Thanks to this support and resources, Scholars go on to pursue meaningful careers, also acting as inclusive leaders in the workforce, the community, and the nation.
Partnering with The Lynch Foundation
The Lynch Foundation supported the first replication and expansion of Posse to a Boston Posse site in 1999.
For the last twenty years, The Lynch Foundation has been partners with Boston Posse. This support has helped provide 800 young leaders from local urban communities with $106 million in scholarships at 6 elite partner institutions.
Posse Scholars have a graduation rate of 90% ─ far higher than the national average for traditional students of 60%.
We have more than 600 Posse alumni currently part of a dynamic leadership network living and working in the Boston area.