The Columbus Promise, a place-based tuition-free college program for graduates of Columbus City Schools, was created in 2021 and began granting scholarships to the high school graduating class of 2022. The initial phase of the Columbus Promise is a three-year pilot covering the high school graduating classes of 2022, 2023, and 2024. The overriding goals in creating the program were to increase postsecondary enrollment among Columbus City Schools graduates and meet the skilled workforce needs of the local economy. The Upjohn Institute was engaged to evaluate the Columbus Promise early in its launch. The evaluation provides feedback to program stakeholders to support continuous improvement while enabling the broader community to track progress toward program goals. This report represents a synthesis of year one findings based on both qualitative and quantitative analyses. [This report was prepared for the city of Columbus.]