La Vida Inc.
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : J****e@l************s.o*g
Mission Statement
Partnering with families, we equip low-income, high-achieving students with access to resources and opportunities to enter top colleges and graduate with minimal to no debt.
About This Cause
La Vida Scholars envisions a future where all students, particularly the first-generation and immigrant populations we serve, have equal access to a high-quality education, fulfilling career opportunities, and economic and social mobility for themselves and their families. Studies show that a college degree can lead to higher earning potential (Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce) and improved health outcomes (Annual Review of Public Health). However, navigating the intricacies of the US higher-education application and financial aid processes can be challenging, especially for families who are new to the United States. According to the US Census, the La Vida Scholars communities of Lynn and Chelsea are both home to substantial immigrant populations: 36% of Lynn residents and 47% of Chelsea residents are foreign born, compared to only 18% statewide. Dramatic disparities in per-pupil student spending expose the structural inequity that confronts students in the communities we serve. For example, in 2022, the last year on record, Boston Public Schools spent $30,107 per pupil; Lynn public schools spent only $17,443 and Chelsea $18,133 per pupil in that same year. Student outcomes vary significantly, in clear correlation with spending. While 50% of Boston Public School students go on to college, only 39% of Lynn and Chelsea students achieve this goal (MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). The recent Supreme Court ruling dismantling affirmative action has made it even more difficult for motivated, high-achieving students from under-resourced communities to earn places at competitive colleges. La Vida Scholars was established to address these challenges in the vibrant gateway cities of Lynn and now Chelsea, where long-standing structural barriers hinder student access to the financial, health, and social benefits of higher education. La Vida Scholars recruits motivated, first-generation-to-college students with low income and gives them the tools they need to become attractive college candidates. Through programming tailored to each student’s grade level, La Vida Scholars receive one-on-one advising as needed, as well as meeting weekly in groups for career counseling, academic assistance, and guidance through the college selection, application, and financial aid processes. La Vida arranges campus visits, strategically targeting colleges that meet 100% of financial need. We provide free summer programming to help Scholars stay focused on their higher-education goals year-round. We make college access a family-oriented process, with caregivers participating in monthly financial literacy workshops, attending organized campus visits, and saving for their children’s education. In contrast to the overwhelming number of students assigned to each guidance counselor in Lynn and Chelsea public schools, LVS provides a ten-to-one student-to-staff ratio for our senior class, with multilingual advisors who can converse comfortably with Scholars and families in their home languages. Because students can’t thrive when their families are at risk, our program includes responsive, respectful wrap-around family services, addressing basic needs that could interfere with learning. La Vida also supports and incentivizes saving, helping families establish college savings accounts and awarding matching funds in the form of individual scholarships for graduating seniors. Students who participate in three years of LVS programming can receive up to $1,500 in college savings match scholarships, helping make college more affordable. Our model has proven successful: nearly all La Vida Scholars go directly from high school to college, and most (78%) earn college degrees (well above the Census-listed national average of 34% and the Lynn and Chelsea averages of 22%). Equally important, our Scholars graduate with manageable debt levels–nearly half with NO out-of-pocket costs, and many with no loans at all, allowing them to begin their careers without the crushing debt that has become so common in our nation. Scholars from La Vida’s most-recent graduating class, who continue to receive alumni services, speak eight different languages in their homes, and identify with more than twenty different ethnicities/heritages. Nearly all (98%) of Scholars identify as people of color. LVS is especially honored to guide many families through their first experience of higher education in the United States, with 88% of Scholars being the first in their families to attend college, and 83% coming from immigrant families. LVS recently completed a formal strategic plan that created ambitious, yet achievable, goals for the next three years. These include adding a 9th-grade cohort, serving more students in grades 10-12, enhancing programming and curriculum, and enriching our connections within the community. As we grow, we have committed to enhancing our infrastructure to ensure Scholars and their families receive the personal attention they deserve. In the coming year, we have budgeted for a new Operations Director, who will relieve our Executive Director of many day-to-day tasks, freeing him to focus more on external-facing, capacity-building activities. We will also add two Mass Promise Fellows, to help us maintain cost-effective staff-to-student ratios as we grow.