Latino Education Advancement Foundation

Leaf center for college success (lccs)-the leaf center for college success (lccs) offers a structured approach to increasing college enrollment and retention for first-generation students of color. Lccs provides essential resources and support services for latinx students and their families in east san jose enrolling in a community college, university, or trade & certification program. In brief, lccs mentors, guides, and empowers first-generation students and their families to (1) build a college-going culture, (2) confidently navigate the college enrollment process, (3) persist through college, and (4) graduate with a clear career pathway.leaf's lccs programming has served over 700 students and families since 2021, including over 700 leaf scholars, nearly 100 mentors, and over 500 families (96% of leaf's scholars are first-generation college students). Leaf's family education program has also supported 226 families. To date, leaf has distributed over $1,000,000 to help students meet those needs. Scholarships have gone directly to students, mentors, and families, and have been incredibly impactful in keeping them engaged and enrolled in college. This has enabled the following outcomes:- 81% of students in leaf's first college cohort (2021-2022) are persisting in college.- of these, 50% are enrolled in community colleges, 50% are in 4-year colleges.

Leaf advocacy-leaf advocacy aims to support the spread of underrepresented latinx voices to change the system's disparate impact that our community in east san jos faces. One of the sources of advocacy will be with the eastside education initiative (eei). Eastside education initiative is a collective impact coalition advocating and developing a college and career readiness culture in san jos composed of four core components: (1) engagement of eastside students and families in a participatory process to promote parent and student voices, (2) improvement of core subject proficiency of eastside students leading to an increase in latinx graduates who pass a-g coursework, (3) provide a college and career-aligned programming beginning in the 6th grade to increase enrollment and persistence in two-year colleges and four-year universities, and (4) advocate for equitable funds for east san jose schools to be on par or above the highest per-pupil allocation in santa clara county. Leaf advocacy will not be limited to only work through eei.