The General Motors Foundation will donate $27.1 million to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to create Networks of Excellence from five existing area high schools with the goals of dramatically increasing graduation rates and ultimately rebuilding the area’s skilled workforce.

The money, which is the largest donation in the 34-year history of the GM Foundation, is aimed at reducing the nearly 50 percent dropout rate in parts of Metro Detroit where the most manufacturing jobs have been lost in recent years.

The network, which will be the second administered by the United Way in Detroit and its suburbs, will choose five high schools from which to create up to 20 academies along with establishing five Early Learning Communities to help get young children ready for kindergarten.

The first Network of Excellence began with five schools in 2008. After the first year, 83 percent of the students at the turnaround schools are on track to graduate, up from a low of 65 percent, according to the United Way.

“The goal is audacious,” said Michael J. Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. “We want to transform Southeast Michigan into the home of one the top five most skilled and educated workforces in the nation. Our measurement is 80 percent or greater readiness for kindergarten and high school graduation where the norm in at least five key communities is 50 percent”

The breakdown of the donation includes $5 million a year for the next five years plus $425,000 a year for the five Early Childhood Learning Communities.