As the alarming dropout numbers have become more apparent, the long-term consequences have drawn increasing concern, as well. The number of dropouts annually can cost the United States $200 billion over the lifetime of those individuals, through greater amounts of public assistance they are likely to require to the "school-to prison pipeline." Three quarters of the inmates in state prison do not finish high school, reports the Alliance for Excellent Education. The drop out problem is costly to our society. Hoping to leave a trail of best practices, organizations and companies also have begun to support and fund the most promising district and community programs nationwide. This article describes a number of programs, supported by organizations that are focused on the dropout problem in American schools, such as America's Promise and the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University in South Carolina. These programs are all about urgency of this problem. "It adds up to 1.2 million high school dropouts a year", says John Gomperts, America's Promise president and CEO. "Twenty five percent of young people are not graduating." For African American and Hispanic students, the number is roughly 65 percent, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. A list of additional resources is provided.