Mission and History | Board | Staff | Jobs with CPE

Mission
For the last fifteen years, Capital Partners for Education (CPE) has been effectively improving the futures of low-income youth, high achieving youth by helping them receive a quality education, graduate from high school, and attend college. CPE is the only youth organization in the Washington Metropolitan area that provides students with a combination of private high school scholarships, adult mentors, and academic support and enrichment opportunities. All CPE students—ninety-five percent of whom are of color—meet the income requirements for the federal government’s reduced lunch program. The average annual income of a CPE family of four is below $22,000.

History
Capital Partners for Education (CPE) began in 1993 as the vision of its founders, Ambassador Henry D. Owen and Theodore A. Schwab. Owen and Schwab sought to help low-income youth in the Washington, DC area gain greater access to a quality education. In that first year, Owen, then a senior advisor to Smith Barney, and Schwab, a financial consultant with Smith Barney provided six students with partial scholarships to private high schools. Since then, CPE has grown and evolved into a dynamic college preparatory scholarship and mentoring program that has established itself firmly in the Washington, DC area. Currently serving 127 students who attend 20 local private schools, CPE is building upon the 97% success rate of graduates that go on to college.