About ABL Results The Academy of Business Leadership (ABL) empowers close to 350 students each summer and reaches over 15,000 students per year through workshops and presentations at hundreds of middle and high schools, community based organizations, and places of worship. Since 1991, ABL has touched the lives of over 2,800 ABL Summer Business Institute (SBI) graduates, and has reached over 92,000 middle and high school students through workshops and presentations throughout Southern California. In the 2008 biannual Jump$tart Coalition survey, high school students in all fifty states were asked 30 questions relating to money management, saving, investment, and credit. Of the students polled, 74% failed and 4.7% achieved a grade of “C” or higher. In comparison, a 2008 survey of SBI graduates, showed that: After attending SBI, there was an average increase of 246% in the number of students who believe they can now understand finance, investments, and the stock market. There was an average increase of 175% in those who can now read and understand the Wall Street Journal as a result of their participation in SBI. 71% of students said that they are now more certain about pursuing a career in business or economics. There was an average increase of 55% in students who do not see the lack of money as an obstacle to pursuing higher education after their participation in SBI. 100% of our participants say that they now understand the value of higher education and that college is now in their future. 100% of our SBI graduates graduated from high school, compared to the California state average of only 67.7% in 2007, as reported by the California Department of Education. Graduation rates for minority students are even lower: 57% for Blacks and 60% for Latinos. 98% of ABL alumni who have graduated from high school have gone onto college. In contrast, only 58% of students nationwide go onto college, according to the U.S. Census survey of 2006.