College Preparation, Access, and Completion Program

Youth economic advancement

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

While there has been increase in college attendance for youth from marginalized backgrounds, retention and completion rates remain a challenge. Many students need to be better equipped with the academic and psychosocial readiness to sustain their studies. Moreover, the growing burden of education debt adds to rising college dropout rates and delayed graduations, perpetuating societal inequality and limiting social mobility. A 2021 UCLA report highlights that the achievement gap for youth of color in L.A. is closely linked to economic conditions, environmental and living circumstances, and structural inequities. In 2020, students from the highest income quartile earned degrees at 4 times the rate of those from the lowest income quartile (The Pell Institute, 2022). This disparity underscores the strong link between family income, parental education, and college completion. BBBSLA tackles these issues by fostering mentorship connections that prepare youth for college, careers, and life.

The core of our CPAC program, launched in 2016, revolves around professionally supported 1:1 mentoring relationships designed to help students graduate high school, enroll in college, persist through college, and prepare for their careers. Matches between mentors and mentees meet or connect virtually twice a month. BBBSLA staff provide continuous case management to support mentors, mentees, and their families, addressing challenges, ensuring safety, and offering additional resources to foster college access and success, as well as career navigation. These resources are distributed through monthly and quarterly newsletters and on an individual, as-needed basis. They include workshops, internship opportunities, guidance on choosing a major, college support groups, networking opportunities for college students, and financial literacy resources for both mentors and mentees. Additionally, CPAC offers resources to high-school youth in our other mentoring programs. This includes resume-building, SAT/ACT prep, financial aid information, college application guidance, scholarship opportunities, and more. We aim to provide comprehensive support to our high-school Littles to promote positive academic outcomes and extend their mentoring relationships beyond graduation, enhancing the long-term benefits of mentorship.

A study of BBBS matches in 7 metropolitan areas showed that matches connect socioeconomically different neighborhoods at significant rates in comparison to a control group. These findings imply that youth mentoring has the benefit of creating more socially cohesive cities, increasing young peoples’ social capital and making them more likely to achieve postsecondary success
Mentoring has impacts far beyond the one-to-one relationship in ways that impact life, career readiness and post-secondary success. The presence of adults who connect young people with resources and additional relationships is associated with upward economic mobility, especially for youth of color. Mentoring can provide youth with valuable social skills and insider knowledge critical to long-term professional development. Especially for youth facing obstacles such as a lack of individuals with knowledge of or connections to professions of interest, a mentor can provide an invaluable relationship full of connections.

We track the impact of our CPAC program by measuring high school and college matriculation rates, college persistence rates, and college completion rates. Further, we gather feedback from both our mentors and mentees regarding their experience throughout college through ongoing surveys. Our goal is for <90% of students to complete post secondary education within 6 years. 2022-2023 Accomplishments: 99% of high school seniors graduated high school
81% collegebound rate (57% went to 4-year and 24% went to 2-year community college/vocational school)
40 CPAC mentees graduated from their college/university. 64 mentees were awarded BBBSLA scholarships ranging from $500-$2,500. (Total funds awarded: $68,500)
Conducted 14 workshops and 2 special events on resume-building, SAT/ACT prep, financial aid, scholarships, financial literacy, and the college/career application process, and mental health strategies.