Next Generation Scholars

Our programs served a total of 186 students, ranging in age from 10 to 23. 111 middle and high school age students completed our rigorous Summer Academy, through virtual classes and almost as much flexibility and patience as our staff provided them. This required a great amount of adjustment, providing immediate in-home tech support and ensuring all of our students had both the devices they needed, and access to wi-fi.As a result, each student was well prepared to begin their new school year in September,with 12 of our high school seniors accepted into, and now attending a four year college. In addition to these students, approximately 350 of their families members were served, ranging in age infant to 92 years. Services received included food and housing security assistance, clothing, legal assistance,mental health counseling, parenting skills workshops and parenting support, Summer Academy activities for younger siblings, and emergency assistance. NGSs research and experience shows that family support is a vital component to our students likelihood of success, and therefore a robust family service component is inherent to our programming. In March of 2020, over 80% or our students parents became under or unemployed overnight, due to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place mandate. To this end, NGS appealed to the community for emergency support, and raised $100,000 in a matter of months, which proved a financial lifeline to our families. Our major accomplishment is that we were able to deliver our 9 programs, without interruption or academic slides for our students, during an unprecedented time of a pandemic, extreme social injustice issues and wildfires raging through our state of California. A successful learning environment was maintained for the students, as their family culture supported the importance of their focus on education.