Improve Your Tomorrow-Wisconsin is now officially at Verona Area School District (VASD) as the nonprofit continues to expand its reach in the state.
Improve Your Tomorrow, a Sacramento-based nonprofit focused on helping young students of color attend college and universities, came to Wisconsin late last year. Its Wisconsin branch started Oct. 13, 2025, at Madison Metropolitan School District’s (MMSD) Capital and La Follette high schools. Its success has been nearly instantaneous since its launch in Wisconsin, with its branch in the state boasting the highest attendance and engagement rates across its eight communities in five states.
Now, Improve Your Tomorrow has officially expanded to VASD on Feb. 18. The program looks a little bit different from MMSD, but its core mission is still the same — targeting youth to build pathways to attend college and university.
“It’s very important that we reach out to just about every school district, to every school — not just about — to every school district in Wisconsin, because our statistics, no matter what school district you go to, you see underperforming black and brown students,,” said Korbey Whites, director of Improve Your Tomorrow-Wisconsin. “It has nothing to do with achievement gaps. It has nothing to do with intellect. It has everything to do with opportunity gaps.”
White met with VASD’s superintendent, Dr. Tremayne Clardy, while he was in the works meeting with MMSD to start Improve Your Tomorrow at the latter. Dr. Clardy gave a resounding yes right away, White said.
At VASD, Improve Your Tomorrow targets students in ninth and tenth grade. Roughly 19-25 students are in the program, with meetings often during their lunch period or after school.
“We do activities, various activities, that instill, first of all, that sense of brotherhood, that they’re in a safe space. That they can trust one another and trust us. From there, the mentoring begins,” White said.
Comparing the two, MMSD offers only a for-credit course, Improve Your Tomorrow, that students can take at school to ensure they can participate in the program.
With VASD now officially in the Improve Your Tomorrow-Wisconsin network, White hopes to expand to other districts in Dane County and Milwaukee soon. Milwaukee Public Schools has expressed interest in working with Improve Your Tomorrow.
