Program Description

Scholarship Program -- annual financial grants throughout university enrollment; our scholarship commitment is 4 years.

Mentoring Program -- individualized mentoring by professionals linked to scholars based on specific criteria such as academic interest, employment interest, skill set strength/weakness matching, etc. Mentorship also happens in the form of workshops and college/employment preparation seminars which provide study techniques, interviewing skills, budgeting skills, career counseling, and networking skills development.

Internship and Job Placement Assistance Program -- individualized approach of connecting students with jobs and internships. The program creates opportunities for students in a specific field to be placed part/full-time with an employer in their area of interest. Representative employers include: Bay Cities National Bank, Boeing, Deloitte & Touche, Genentech, Good Samaritan Hospital, KPMG, Lehman Brothers, Little Company of Mary Hospital, Memorial Hospital of Gardena, Merrill Lynch, Northrop Grumman, Paul Hastings, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Wells Fargo, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, and multiple law firms, accounting firms, and individual physicians in Los Angeles.

South Central Scholars aims to create a "community" as well as a financial support program. Current scholars are responsible for assisting younger scholars as they matriculate into college. Our college students are encouraged to participate in curriculum design and lectures for SCS seminars. Post graduation, they are involved in recruiting from their community and are encouraged to become mentors and volunteers themselves. Because of the depth of services provided, each student participates in of approximately 20 hours of programming each year on average. Students that participate in the mentorship and jobs & internships program participate in over 50 hours of programming each year.

In order to be eligible for all services provided by the programs, students must attend mandatory meetings that are held either at their college campus or in Los Angeles during vacation time (winter or summer breaks). Student attendance is recorded and students are also surveyed during the renewal process to indicate events that they have attendance. Pairing with mentors and taking advantage of mentorship and jobs & internships services are optional, but are highly recommended for all scholars. 

The mission of South Central Scholars is to assist highly motivated high school students from South Central Los Angeles to achieve academic success in college, graduate school, and their careers in life. This assistance extends to financial, professional, personal, mentor, internships, job placement assistance, financial aid, and college application assistance, in order to provide South Central students with a holistic approach to academic and personal development and success. SCS volunteers provide the students who are selected with mentors, jobs, internships, and assistance with personal and family problems, tutoring, college fairs, and career counseling to ensure that our scholarship dollars lead to diplomas and jobs.

South Central Scholars was founded in 2001 as the South Central Gifted Scholar Fund (SCGSF) by Dr. James and Mrs. Patricia London. The efforts of the organization began with one student. She was provided with a scholarship, given networking opportunities in the finance industry through resources provided by the board members, and mentored throughout her college experience to encourage retention and personal/professional development. Since 2001, the population has increased to 470 scholars recruited from 32 different high schools in the South Central area, and provides scholarships, mentorship, and internships to students attending college throughout the country. In August of 2008, SCGSF was shortened to South Central Scholars (SCS). To date, SCS has distributed over $2 million in scholarship awards.

Partners and Supporters

SCS has partnered with over 21 high schools and several middle schools in South Central LA. To date, our scholars come from 32 high schools, 11 of which are working with us to develop referral systems for the 2010-2011 application season.

In 2009, we are working to partner with the Southern California College Access Network (www.socalcollaborative.org), Quantum Community Development Coalition (www.quantumcdc.org), and have an executed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with 1736 Family Crisis Center (www.1736fcc.org) to increase our capacity to refer or provide our students with additional financial, academic, and social services.

Key sponsors include the Ceres Foundation, Merrill Lynch, the Josh Groban Foundation, and the London Family Foundation.

Key partners include: Akin Gump, Alston & Bird, American Red Cross of Greater LA, Amgen, Artio Global Investors, CCI Inc., Confianza, DBL Associates, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Good Samaritan Hospital, Josh Groban Foundation, KPMG, Liner Yanklevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif, Little Company of Mary San Pedro Hospital, Luminous Capital, Northrop Grumman Space Technology, City Attorney of Los Angeles, Oracle Imaging Services, Paul Hastings, Price Waterhouse, Reback Lee, Tesoro Corporation, and William Morries Entertainement Endeavor.