Who is CBO?

Founded in 2006, College Bound Opportunities (CBO) has been mentoring, motivating and preparing under-served students from high schools in Highland Park (since 2007), Deerfield (2008), Lake Forest (2011), and Buffalo Grove (2017), Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep in Waukegan (2016) and Vernon Hills High School to attend and graduate from college. College graduates earn more than double the annual income of adults who have only attained a high school degree. College graduates are healthier, more active in their communities, and have greater access to health insurance and retirement benefits. College aspirations among low-income, first-generation students have risen significantly over the past 15 years, yet the college attainment rates for the same period have remained flat. CBO’s six-year program closes this gap.

DEI Mission Statement

We believe the diversity of our community is a fundamental strength. Our mission is best fulfilled when we embrace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) not only as core values but as intentional actions.

We maintain that achieving diversity requires an intentional commitment to equity and inclusion that is foundational to our organization culture, values, norms, policies and practices. Throughout our work internally and externally, we support diversity in all its forms, encompassing but not limited to: age, ability, immigration status, economic circumstance, ethnicity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

Leading by example, we aspire to make diversity, equity and inclusion core values and are committed to approaching our work with a DEI lens.