Become a mentor for a high school senior

Save to Favorites

Heart of Los Angeles is now accepting applications for mentors for high school seniors!

In the visibly under-resourced and low-income neighborhoods around MacArthur Park, Heart of Los Angeles provides a pipeline for high school students to beat the odds and transition to colleges and universities.

The HOLA High School Department supports 60 high school seniors a year through a program that takes them step-by-step through the college application process, the financial aid application process, and the college transition process.

Last year there were many changes to the application process - new UC Prompts, New Application Platforms, and changes in the SAT AND FAFSA. These new changes only add to an already complex application process for our students. We hope to provide a 2:1 student to mentor ratio again this year in order to help our students successfully apply to college.

HOLA is able to do this with the support of our corps of volunteer mentors.

Thanks in large part to the moral and technical support offered by volunteer mentors:

• over 90% of HOLA high school students graduate from high school
• more than 85% of HOLA alumni are on track to graduate from college within 6 years

This is a phenomenal accomplishment, considering that the national rate of college completion among similar populations hovers around 15%

_________________________________________________________________

The commitment: During the busy Fall application season, Mentors commit to supporting 1-2 mentees beginning in late August and ending in December 2017. Mentors volunteer 2-3 hours every Wednesday evening. Additionally for those Volunteers who can continue into the Spring Financial Aid, Scholarship and Decision season, a commitment of once a month on Wednesday evenings is appreciated

The structure: Mentors meet with mentees on Wednesday evenings (August - December) at HOLA, from 6-8pm. During the busiest times in the college application season, HOLA will be open for a handful of Saturday sessions as well.

Interested in learning more? Contact Volunteer Coordinator, Lorena Pineda, at volunteer@heartofla.org or by phone, 213-389-1148 x 247.