Welcome back to School!

Welcome back to school!

Even for those of us who graduated years ago, late August is a time of anticipation. What will this year hold? What will challenge us, develop us, and make us better students of life?

This year, the LA Promise Fund supported the opening of 5 schools: 3 LAUSD-partner schools and 2 charter schools. We are growing as an organization – reaching more students and communities than ever before. As we grow, I’m seeing our teams come together and work together seamlessly. I am so proud of our LA Promise Fund team and partners– from our supporters to our students to our school faculty to our partner agencies – for working toward our vision: to radically improve the future of LA communities by increasing educational equity and ultimately closing the opportunity gap.

When students returned to school on August 15th, more than 1,400 had benefitted from summer programs that helped them transition into middle or high school, improve their English skills, catch up on academics, or work in a professional setting through an internship.

When students arrived on campus, all of the schools’ campuses had been painted and cleaned thanks to our partners from Deloitte, USC Friends and Neighbors, LAUSD Central, the building and grounds team at each school, and dozens of community members that volunteered their time.

We have laid a strong foundation, and we are excited to grow upon it this year. Last year, we had remarkable gains in graduation rates and A-G completion. This year, we will build upon those gains and aim higher. We remain focused on serving our students learning English, and we are committed to building real world learning opportunities that excite and activate our students. We are proud to be opening our second charter school — LA Promise Charter High School, with a film & entertainment theme and a strong partnership with LA Trade Tech.

And there is so much more. From Girls Build LA to our work with Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, we are reaching beyond the walls of our schools to bring opportunities to students throughout LA County.

You can read about some of our work in this newsletter, and on our blog. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And send us an email – info@lapromisefund.org – let us know what you think.

You are an important member of our community.

Thank you,

Veronica Melvin, CEO