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Four-Year Focused

​While assisting young people to overcome past obstacles, we also prepare them for transition.  LAEC offers graduation resources through our Four-Year Focused program.  During their senior year students are placed in a cohort with their graduating peers and receive individual case management and tracking and support in applying for college and financial aid. They also participate in workshops and go on college road trips.   The summer before their freshman year in college they receive individual transition support. Students from grades 9-11 are also provided with college information, exposure and access via the LAEC’s Advisory Curriculum. This curriculum was designed to build students knowledge of themselves, leadership skill development and college knowledge. The expectation is that students complete their 11th grade year with all of the foundational knowledge they need to begin their Four-Year Focused journey in their senior year. 


​MSW Counseling Program

We partner with local universities, such as USC, UCLA, and Long Beach State.  Graduate students who are pursuing a Masters in Social Work (counseling) are hosted on our campuses, where they work one-on-one with students to meet their counseling and case management needs.


​Get Lit

Get Lit is a citywide program that has been implemented successfully at our College Bridge Academy - Watts site.  It is dedicated to bringing the power of poetic expression to at-risk teens through a standards-based curriculum fusing classic literature and poetry with contemporary Spoken Word performance techniques. We have found that participants are more likely to come to school, achieve higher grades in their other ​classes, and finish the semester without dropping out. Many of our poetry students report
increases in self-confidence and self-worth, as 



​well as using poetry as an outlet for dealing with negative emotions or trauma when they previously would have turned to substance abuse, fighting, or self-harm. Four of our graduates have also earned spots as ambassadors for the Get Lit program. As Get LitPlayers, these students went on to such opportunities as performing at high schools all across Los Angeles, at Dodgers Stadium, on the Queen Latifah show, at a John Legend concert, and even as far as the Kennedy Center stage and the White House.