GANAS: Generating Achievement through Northeast San Fernando Valley Academic Scholars

Youth economic advancement

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Andres y Maria Cardenas Family Foundation( AMCFF) understands the issue of youth economic empowerment and income inequality as vital issues that can affect students success during and post college. AMCFF works to minimize these issues by providing students with monetary support through scholarships as well as providing resources to help students and their families navigate and manage the educational journey. By providing this support, AMCFF helps to create generational change in our scholar’s families. Each year, our board of directors awards scholarships to high school and college students who attend, or have attended, one of our ten partner schools in the San Fernando Valley. It seeks to honor not only high achieving students but also students who embody the qualities of hard work, perseverance, and a commitment to the community.

The greatest gift we can give our high school graduates and continuing college students is resources to pursue higher education. 67% of this grant will be used to fund scholarships for high school and existing college students who attend, or have attended, one of our ten partner schools in the San Fernando Valley. In addition to providing the much needed seed money to fund educational dreams, the grant will allow us to work more closely with our ten partner schools to educate counselors, parents, and the students about the scholarship opportunities that are available through our Foundation. This in turn will give us more applicants and allow us to provide further resources to our scholarship recipients.
One of the resources we provide to high school scholarship recipients is a Student & Parent Orientation Day complete with separate track breakout sessions including what to expect your first year in college, a Q&A panel with past scholarship recipients or their parents, and a financial intelligence workshop. Additionally the funds will support increasing our alumni networking opportunities to our present and past scholars to connect them to paid internships with our partners like LADWP, METRO, Metropolitan Water District & Mott McDonald.

Through education, AMCFF wants to break the cycle of poverty for its Scholars and make Los Angeles a better place because of their contribution. Many of our scholars return to their home communities to become change makers. Imelda Padilla an example of one of our past scholars. Padilla was born in 1987 in Northeast SF Valley. Attended Berkeley, later CSUN and stayed involved with local non profits before becoming Council District Woman. The Foundation has been impacting lives for over 25 years by providing nearly $1.5 million in support to over 1,400 students. Its success has been measured through it scholar’s graduation rate of of 95% which is approximately 15% higher than the average graduation rate of socioeconomically disadvantaged student group as published by the California Department of Education for the 20-21 year. We will strive to make sure our scholars are provided with the necessary resources to succeed.

The Foundations provides more than financial assistance. It offers support to help students and their families navigate & manage the educational journey. Each year, we host a Student & Parent Orientation (SPO) day for first time college students and their families. During this orientation, students and parents separate into breakout sessions that include for what to expect your first year in college, a Q&A panel with past scholarship recipients or their parents, and a financial intelligence workshop. We measure our impact through qualitative and quantitative data gathering. All participants fill out a survey which is then reviewed by the board and executive director to adjust programming and create more effective programs. There is an 80% satisfaction rate and increase in knowledge from all participants.