The following is a report from our partners at MetroFocus

The public four-year high school graduation rate for New York City students has recently hit a high of 70 percent, and although that number may not sound like much, it is 2 percentage points higher than the previous year. As part of our ongoing initiative, Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America, we spotlight one Harlem school who has proved that the average is not the norm. At the St. Aloysius School in Harlem, students go on to graduate from high school at a rate of 96 percent. But that success may soon be cut short because the school, which has been a fixture in the community for 76 years, will be forced to close its doors for good. If St. Aloysius cannot reach its fundraising goals by next month, the community will lose this Harlem beacon of hope forever.

St. Aloysius is a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade independent Jesuit school located in Central Harlem that is dedicated to educating inner-city children at risk of not reaching their potential. Learn more about St. Aloysius and their history of empowering low-income learners.