Episode 27: Higher Achievement- 50 Years of Proven Impact

Back on-location, We’re Good Podcast host Lee Ann Necessary Brownlee steps inside Higher Achievement in Washington, DC—where mentoring isn’t a slogan, it’s a program that works. CEO Lynsey Wood Jeffries and board member and alum Mitchell “Mitch” Brooks reveal how a 50-year, research-proven after-school model changes the arc of middle schoolers’ lives across DC, Baltimore, Prince George’s County, and Richmond. The numbers stun: multi-year “deep intervention” (four days a week, ~350 hours/year) paired with weekly mentors produces statistically significant gains in grades, test scores, placement in college-prep high schools—and graduates who are three times more likely to finish a four-year college. Translation: this program works, and the gold-standard randomized trials back it up.

But the stories shared are the episode’s heartbeat. Mitch—once labeled for special accommodations—shares how his mother had a different plan and his mentor understood how to motivate him and pushed him toward stretch schools, setting up a path from Gonzaga to FAMU to founding a firm making equity investments that now touch millions. Lynsey traces her own journey from Tuesday-night mentor to CEO, describing the “tighter social fabric” that forms when mentors, scholars, and families commit to each other year after year. The ripple effects are everywhere: Higher Achievement alumni now sit on city councils, run nonprofits, lead in business—and still tear up remembering the mentors who poured into them first.

You’ll step into small learning pods where healthy competition lifts everyone, hear why middle school is a neurodevelopmental sweet spot, and discover how real-world exposure—career visits, entrepreneurial projects—widens what kids can imagine about their futures. There’s surging demand, waitlists, and an urgent call for consistent volunteer mentors to unlock more seats.

What’s the “moment behind the chalkboard” that data can’t show—the one that still makes a Super Bowl winner and Higher Achievement alum cry? Listen or Watch, and see why Higher Achievement proves that talent is everywhere.

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