LEARNAfter-School All-Stars Los Angeles CampUS
CampUS is an innovative summer program to prepare incoming 9th graders for success and an experience in college life. Students spend a week with a hands-on true college experience on a local college campus. They move into the dorms, eat in the cafeterias and take classes in college lecture halls. Through this immersive program, students are offered exciting courses on how to succeed in high school, and what to expect when start their college career.
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
San Fernando Valley
South LA
Westside
LAUSD (please select only if you have a district-wide partnership or project)
In what stage of innovation is this project?
Expand existing program
What is the need you’re responding to?
CampUS & We Are Ready address serious needs in the community by preparing students for success in high school and beyond. While national graduation rates rise, youth of color are still notably absent from college & the workplace. Our students are in demographic groups most likely to drop out, or leave school unprepared for the workforce. An issue in our community is youth disconnection (students who are not enrolled in school or are unemployed). A report finds that 11% of white youth ages 16-24 are disconnected, while rates among African American youth are 22.5% & Hispanic youth are 18.5% (Burd-Sharps & Lewis, 2012). Our programs help students transition to high school while making connections between academic and professional success, college planning, career exploration, and mentoring. We Are Ready allows for early intervention by targeting middle-schoolers & strives to inspire students for the rigors of high school & CampUS provides that hands-on experience at the end of the year.
Why is this project important to the work of your organization?
For the past ten years, CampUS has created a worthwhile and memorable experience for our students entering high school. What makes the team at ASAS-LA unique is that staff members typically come from the neighborhoods where we serve our students. This allows a familiarity between students and staff that breaks down barriers are creates a trusting and meaningful relationship. Additionally, most CampUS participants return as junior and regular camp counselors. This shows that our students are committed to our programs and their communities by giving back as mentors.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this proposal?
Direct Impact: 140
Indirect Impact: 6,100
Please describe the broader impact of your proposal.
Students who attend CampUS will have an impact on the future of the city by taking the skills they have learned to role model to their peers, act as mentors for younger students, and enter into college or the workforce better prepared than before. As mentioned, our students come from neighborhoods that pose challenges for them on many levels from food insecurity, to lack of access to technology, and areas that may have a high incidence of violence. Our students time and time again report that they are appreciative of the work of ASAS-LA because of the programs and also because of our caring staff who are dedicated to their success. Having programs like ASAS-LA ensure that the future of Los Angeles will be as bright as our students.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
Our vision for our All-Stars is that they grow up safe and healthy, graduate high school and go on to college, find careers they love and give back to their communities. We achieve this by identifying and fueling our students’ individual passions and by tailoring their interests to academic support, enrichment, and health and fitness activities. With CampUS, we create a week-long exceptional opportunity where students enter high school with a strong foundation that will allow them to succeed.
We measure success against outcomes using three primary data sources: pre and post student surveys; school and district data sharing; and participation tracking through Cityspan. We measure our progress toward these goals by examining the following outputs and outcomes. Last school year, 88% of participants in the We Are Ready program improved their goal orientation, increasing their development of both immediate and long-term life goals.
Which of the LEARN metrics will your submission impact?
Enrollment in afterschool programs
College matriculation
High school graduation rates
Which of LA2050’s resources will be of the most value to you?
Access to the LA2050 community
Host public events or gatherings
Communications support
Office space for meetings, events, or for staff
Capacity, including staff
Strategy assistance and implementation