R.E.A.C.H.
Adolescent Interventions
Briefing for School Leadership
The Students We Already Know
Won't Make It Without Something Different.
A briefing on REACH Adolescent Interventions and why it deserves a 30-minute call before this school year closes.
Why You're Reading This
You have students this year who aren't going to graduate without a different kind of support. You already know who they are. Attendance is gone. Credits are short. The interventions we have are exhausted. And we're doing the math on next year while their futures slide.
Someone on your staff brought REACH to your attention because they believe these students still have a path forward. You don't have time to research a new partner from scratch. So here's what you need to know in three minutes.
What REACH Actually Is
REACH is a 24/7 wraparound intervention for over-aged, under-credited students aged 14–21. Not a curriculum. Not a software. It's a team that takes our hardest cases and stays with them, daily, until they graduate. Led by founder Jesse Matthews, who has spent 25+ years inside this exact problem.
The Students This Is Built For
- Students who are physically in the building but academically gone
- Students who keep saying they'll "make it up later" and never do
- Students the adults around them have quietly started lowering expectations for
- Students who respond best when one committed adult won't give up on them
- Extended-year students, over-aged students, students one bad quarter from dropping out
Every traditional intervention assumes a student can attend, self-manage, ask for help, and work independently. These students can't. That's not defiance. It's a system mismatch.
What They've Proven
10×
Higher graduation rate vs. typical alternative placements
78%
Attendance increase in the first 90 days
0
Dropouts in documented cohorts
The Financial Case
A non-completer doesn't cost zero. Per-pupil funding in NYC sits at roughly $20,000 per student per year. Every student we lose is funding we lose. Our graduation rate metric takes the hit. Our district metrics take the hit. The student loses their adult outcome trajectory.
REACH costs less than one student we don't lose. If REACH saves even one student we would have otherwise lost, the program pays for itself before the year ends. Most partner schools save several.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
These students don't get neutral outcomes. They drop out. The longer we wait, the harder the intervention has to be. Every quarter without a 24/7 support layer is another quarter of avoidance cycles deepening and another quarter of adults around them lowering expectations.
Inaction is a decision. It costs the same as any decision.
Next Step: One 30-Minute Call
Jesse Matthews will tell you whether our students qualify and what the transition would look like. No pitch. No pressure.
Jesse Matthews
Founder, REACH
Jesse@ReachAdolescentInterventions.com
R.E.A.C.H.
For the Person Forwarding This
Not For Distribution
Talking Points // Handling the Conversation After You Send It
The Email You Send With This
Don't write a long pitch in the email body. The brief does the pitching. Your job is to make it impossible to ignore. Use this template:
Subject
30 min review: REACH for our hardest cases?
If They Push Back, This Is What You Say
"What's this going to cost us?"
Less than one student we don't lose. The brief breaks down the math. Even one save and the program is paid for.
"Is this just another vendor?"
It's not a software. It's a wraparound team led by a founder who's been doing this for 25+ years. They take the students nothing else has worked for and stay with them until they graduate.
"Why are you bringing this to me now?"
Because the window on this year's at-risk students is closing. Every month we wait makes the intervention harder and the student further out of reach.
"Have other schools actually done this?"
Yes. Zero dropouts in their documented cohorts. 10× graduation rate vs. typical alternative placements. The outcomes are on page 1.
"What if it doesn't work for our students?"
That's exactly what the 30-min call answers. Jesse will tell us whether our students qualify before we commit to anything. The call is the qualifier, not the sales pitch.
"Why can't we do this in-house?"
Because we already are, and the students we're talking about are the ones it hasn't worked for. The whole point of REACH is the 24/7 support layer our school day can't provide.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
Take the 30-min call. That's the only ask on this page.
One last thing. If your decision-maker hasn't responded in three business days, follow up with one line: "Following up on REACH — want me to put 30 min on your calendar with the founder?" Most yeses come from the second touch.