Unlocking Opportunity Through Postsecondary Access

Income inequality

South Bay

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

Rivet School exists because too many talented students—primarily Black, Latino, and first-generation college-goers—are blocked from economic mobility by inequitable, racist systems. These students are less than half as likely to earn a college degree as their peers, yet a degree remains one of the most powerful levers for economic advancement: median lifetime earnings double with a BA. Still, traditional colleges don’t work for working adults. In LA, nearly 50% of Black and Latino graduates enroll in community college, but only 6–7% earn an AA in three years. Our students—single moms, undocumented dreamers, full-time workers—are ready to rise, but current systems fail to serve them. Rivet School was built for them. Our flexible, career-aligned, and deeply supportive model makes college possible—even when it’s their third priority after family and work. We believe equity in education must start with a model that fits our students’ lives.

Rivet School is college built for real life—a flexible, career-aligned, and affordable path to a BA, designed to meet the needs of historically underserved students. We partner with Southern New Hampshire University through its Community Partnerships portfolio to offer accredited, job-relevant degrees that can be completed in 2–3 years.
This grant would support our Bridge program, an innovative expansion of our core model for working adults that serves 18–24-year-olds—students often lost in the gap between high school and college. Like our core program, Bridge pairs a fully online degree with personalized coaching, career support, and life navigation resources. What’s new: students enter in cohorts to build community, and they participate in a structured, twice-weekly curriculum designed to scaffold their transition into independent, college-level learning.
Bridge is uniquely suited to address the challenges these students face—helping them stay enrolled, graduate faster, avoid debt, and access upward mobility. We partner with schools like Green Dot and Da Vinci to recruit students ready for this personalized, high-support model. With this funding, we will grow the program and deepen our impact on a population too often underserved by traditional higher ed.

If successful, Rivet School will help transform Los Angeles County into a place where first-generation, low-income, and system-impacted youth have real, supported pathways to college and economic mobility. In the short term, we aim to enroll 50+ students in our Bridge program by October 2026, improving persistence and time-to-degree for students too often left behind by traditional colleges. Over the longer term, we aim to scale our work through partnerships with public high schools and community-based organizations across LA. With outcomes already 2–5x better than traditional colleges, Rivet School will serve as a proof point for how flexible, supportive, and affordable college can drive equity in postsecondary access and completion—particularly for Black, Latino, and foster youth.