Continuing a two decade-old collaboration, ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ will again be the leading partner of the Los Angeles Unified School District in its Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP 4 LA) to increase the number of low-income students completing postsecondary education.
The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded two GEAR UP grants totaling $59.5 million to LAUSD to fund the district’s college-prep programs for 11,000 at-risk students at high-need middle and high schools over the next seven years.
"I’m excited and thrilled for the renewal of our partnership with LAUSD. It’s a testament to ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½â€™s commitment to equity and access as well as the mission driven work NPP does," said Erik Quezada, director of ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½â€™s Neighborhood Partnership Program and GEAR UP coordinator for the College.
The new grants will be used to provide a variety of services to students at 18 middle schools, 24 high schools and two continuation high schools in central and south Los Angeles, Westlake, Mid-Wilshire, South Gate, and Huntington Park – communities where 44 percent of students live below the poverty line.
GEAR UP students will benefit from strong academic and career guidance; financial and economic literacy education; intensive extended learning programs; early college readiness tests; dual enrollment classes; college visits; and adult, college, and peer mentoring.
As the district’s leading GEAR UP community partner since 1999, when the first GEAR UP grants were awarded, ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ will continue to hire NPP professional staff to provide direct services to students in the middle and high schools. ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ students will have even more opportunities to work with LA area students by providing services such as tutoring, college guidance, small group dialogue and other college preparation services.
ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ also partners with LAUSD on its Upward Bound program, which also seeks to increase the number of low-income, first-generation students who enroll in college. Launched in 1966, ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½â€™s program is one of the country’s earliest Upward Bound programs and one of the largest and most successful in California.
