Helping L.A.’s Most Vulnerable Students Reach College and Beyond

Josue, a student who attended Mendez High School in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles, is confident that he’ll become the first in his family to graduate from college. That’s largely because the son of Mexican immigrants received help in applying to college and financial aid from PUENTE Learning Center’s stellar College and Career Program. Josue was awarded a PUENTE college scholarship, worked as a teacher’s assistant for the nonprofit’s summer camp, and is now a freshman at the University of California, Riverside.

PUENTE Learning Center’s innovative college access program made him feel welcome and “helped me achieve my goals step by step,” says Josue, who aspires to work in the field of mathematics. Josue is one of several thousand people served each year by PUENTE Learning Center, which provides holistic and meaningful learning opportunities to multiple generations of socioeconomically disadvantaged residents in the Greater Los Angeles area.

“It’s about connecting students and their families to necessary resources and, most importantly, helping them complete their education so they can keep going up the ladder to attain their life goals – all to support their economic success, which everyone should be entitled to,” says Jerome Greening, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer.

The grassroots nonprofit was founded by a Catholic nun in 1985 to support below-grade level students at elementary schools in Boyle Heights. Sister Jennie Lechtenberg began tutoring students at neighborhood schools in the summer and eventually started teaching English classes to immigrant parents and grandparents. Four decades later, PUENTE Learning Center offers a highly-rated California state preschool program, a Los Angeles Unified School District-authorized K-5 charter school, its 10-year college and career readiness program, and a robust adult education program that includes a pathway to English proficiency, a high school diploma, and workforce readiness.

Through its integrated services, PUENTE’s staff also connects their clients to housing, food security, immigration, financial literacy, and parenting education to help curb any disruptions in student learning. Ninety-eight percent of PUENTE’s clientele is Latinx.

The College and Career Program, which partners with several schools in Boyle Heights and East L.A., has grown from serving a few dozen students seven years ago to serving more than 700 students today, Greening says. The numbers attest to their success: More than 535 students participated last year in multiple college access program opportunities, which boast a 99 percent acceptance rate and a 96 percent enrollment rate in post-secondary programs.

PUENTE’s career exploration workshops with USC Keck School of Medicine bring professionals in health care to talk to students about various career opportunities at its College and Career Center. The nonprofit also has a growing presence in high school classrooms where they offer college counseling, workshops, and college and scholarship application assistance during class time, says Matt Wells, PUENTE’s vice president of advancement. Once the students are enrolled in college, they are assigned to dedicated case managers who check in regularly and monitor their progress. Meanwhile, the program’s workforce readiness component helps students expand their skills and prepares them to enter the job market.In recent years, the gap in college degree completion between Latinx students and their white peers has been on the rise, according to the advocacy group Excelencia in Education. But PUENTE’s College and Career Program helps significantly close that gap.