Southern California College Access Network

Project SOAR turns the college and career dreams of students living in public housing into reality. This grant will place three counselors on five public housing sites in East and South Los Angeles to provide one-on-one college advising to 1100 students and families. Because college graduates earn $1 million more than high school graduates over the course of a lifetime, this is the equivalent of an $1.1 billion social return on investment!

While 60,000 families in LA have housing vouchers, they remain trapped in poverty because stable housing doesn't eliminate educational barriers, employment obstacles, and skills gaps that prevent economic mobility. Project SOAR has already shattered these cycles for low-income families—delivering measurable results that transform lives.This grant will unleash that proven impact for subsidized housing residents, creating a replicable solution that breaks generational poverty and strengthens entire communities.

A person who graduates from college earns, over the course of their lifetime, $1 million more than a high school graduate. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, up to 40% of Black and Latinx students in LA community colleges were forced to pause their college plans due to economic factors beyond their control. Our program will help 400 students come back to college and ensure success in closing the economic inequality gap; in other words, a $75,000 grant from LA2050 could result in a $400 million return on investment.

Students, community-based organizations, and colleges all are working toward the same goal: students graduating from college. Since their goals are aligned, these groups should not work outside of each other; instead, SoCal CAN proposes the coordination of these entities to ensure effective and efficient supports are available for all students.