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Purpose – Using Philadelphia as a case study, the chapter explores whether the city is poised to meet the Obama administration's goal of restoring the country's place to first in the world in college attainment. The chapter provides an overview of the national funding and policy contexts in which the president announced the college attainment goal, examines Philadelphia's efforts to improve high school and college graduation rates, and describes the challenges facing low-income students in disadvantaged neighborhoods who articulate college ambitions. The chapter ends with a set of policy recommendations to improve education outcomes in cities that struggle to educate their own.

Methodology/approach – At its core, the chapter uses interview and focus group data to understand college awareness in North Central Philadelphia. The study draws upon interviews and focus groups conducted with students, parents, teachers, program administrators and staffs, and other community stakeholders.

Findings – The data show that Philadelphia is unprepared to meet the president's challenge due to extremely low literacy rates and other significant barriers associated with poverty.

Research limitations/implications – It is a small qualitative study. Additional study designs can build upon the data collected.

Practical implications/originality/value of paper – The study provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities to improve education outcomes in Philadelphia.

On a brisk day in Springfield, Illinois, an attractive African-American family stood on the steps of the Illinois Old State Capitol waving to a rapturous and diverse audience of Americans following the family's patriarch's announcement that he would run for the presidency of the United States of America. Standing in the shadows of the legislative building where he worked and the adopted hometown of President Abraham Lincoln who was known as the “Great Emancipator” of the slaves, the symbolism was lost on no one. By announcing his candidacy, he was entering one of the most competitive and diverse fields of presidential candidates in the history of the nation, including its first female and first Latino candidates. When the freshman Illinois senator, Barack Hussein Obama decided to make a bid for the presidency, many Americans were surprised and fascinated with the possibility of its first African-American leader. Older Americans, especially African Americans, had clear knowledge and some personal memories of the national history replete with the vestiges of slavery, the Civil War, and a failed Reconstruction Era in the forms of de jure segregation in the South and de facto segregation throughout the rest of the country. Despite the progress made as a result of the legislation emanating from the activism of the 1960s civil rights movement, this history created a socio-cultural narrative rife with prejudice, racism, and discrimination. Consequently, the nation's race relations narrative was fraught with the tensions between its majority and minorities.

Barack Obama has had considerable support among scholarly circles since his win in the Iowa primary in early 2008. A segment of the Association of Black Sociologists (ABS), “Black and Progressive Sociologists Obama Working Group (BPSOWG),” was particularly active during the 2008 campaign. The purpose of this chapter was to determine if the level and type of activism among this group differed from other progressive groups of sociologists.

The data for this study were collected from a web-based survey administered to approximately 800 professional sociologists in the United States. The survey consisted of items that focused on the extent to which respondents supported the Obama campaign for the presidency and the extent to which they were satisfied with and/or agreed with his policies during first two years of his presidency.

The response rate for the survey was 40% (N=305) and 96% of respondents (N=293) submitted surveys with complete information. Over two-thirds of participants were members of the American Sociological Association Section on Race and Ethnic Relations and 5.5% of respondents identified themselves as members of the BPSOWG. A slight majority (53.6%) of study participants were females and the largest two racial groups making up the study population were whites (47.1%) and African Americans (36.1%). Most of the respondents provided support for President Obama during his first campaign, including financial contributions (66%).

Sociologists who responded to the survey were generally positive about Barack Obama as a candidate and a President. However, the subtle differences between groups about Obama administration policies and the use Presidential power highlighted key areas in which diverse coalitions for progressive change are needed.