The USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative

Income inequality

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

Residents of South and East Los Angeles - almost 100% minority regions with disproportionate numbers of children in poverty, and over 70% of individuals speaking a language other than English at home - face numerous obstacles to educational and career success. The percentage of residents with a high school degree or higher is barely over 50% compared to 82% for California. Moreover, less than half of LAUSD students are eligible for state public universities. Under-resourced communities like these require high quality, effective college preparatory programs to ensure access to higher education and upward career mobility. The issue we are now facing is the decrease in the African American population in south and east LA, that have led to a decrease in students and families able to access the college pathway. We hope to create a stronger pathway for students from the Hyde Park and Leimert Park historically Black communities of south LA.

With a one-year grant, NAI can provide the full range of critical and rigorous academic programming including online Saturday Academy academic programming in English, math and science, after school tutoring, SAT prep, and college advisement. Significantly, NAI will also teach important life skills like time management, communication skills and small group collaboration. The parent component - Family Development Institute - will provide critical information on the K-12 pathway, health/nutrition, and the college pathway to equip NAI parents to develop optimal learning environments at home. NAI provides the resources and opportunities through a unique, integrated approach of essential components: a) academic support; b) college awareness; c) college preparation; d) enrichment and life skills; e) parent engagement.
The NAI’s flagship programming is it’s Saturday Academy. Each year features 21, six-hour sessions of extra time on task for math, English, science, writing, college advisement, academic mentoring and wellness. Each Saturday's curriculum mixes enrichment and rigor for each subject, for grades 6th-12th, and is divided between direct instruction, tutoring and small-group assistance.

Our overall goal is to prepare underrepresented students from low-income neighborhoods and who attend under performing schools for college admissions and completion. All benchmarks and interim programming are benchmarked to that goal. In that NAI has a solid history of supporting youth from south and east Los Angeles to and through college, our intent is to do the same in our newest expansion in south central and southwest Los Angeles. Objectives are: 1) Percent of African American students recruited are at the least on par with the percentage of AA families in the community of University Park and the east area, as well as in the new expansion, recruiting families from the historically Black communities of Hyde Park and Leimert Park; 4)Overtime, 100% of high school seniors graduated and go to college – either 2-year or 4-year college in south Los Angeles, including more African American students.

With its first class of 70 sixth grade students recruited in 1991, the USC NAI graduated its first cohort of NAI scholars in Spring, 1997. Approaching its 32nd year, the initiative expanded to the east area of Los Angeles and is on target to expand more into south Los Angeles, in order to allow greater participation for African American families. Since 1991, and between the two geographies the program has graduated almost 1600 low-income, local high school graduates and boasts a 100% high school graduation rate and a 99% college attendance rate. 73% of NAI scholars have graduated from colleges or universities since the first graduating class in 1997 with a 92% graduation rate if they attend USC. Of the 95 scholars who graduated this year, an historic 60 scholars were accepted to USC on full-tuition scholarships. NAI graduates attend selective universities throughout the country including a range of UC and Cal State schools, Harvard, Penn State, MIT, Stanford, Brown and Dartmouth.