I am an administrator at WLAC. The WLAC Foundation provides scholarships to students at West Los Angeles College. Scholarships include merit and need based scholarships, which help our students succeed in their education. The WLAC Foundation also supports retention by providing General Emergency Grants to students who experience unexpected costs during the academic year.
As the representative of a donor organization, I am very impressed that the work that West Los Angeles College Foundation has done and continues to do. Supporting community college students is an outstanding endeavor, and one that the non-profit foundation I represent is happy to fund!
I am personally passionate about the role education plays in creating the pathways for economic progress for an individual and their family. The willingness to pursue a degree, to persist and to complete an education is admirable. The reality, however, is daunting for those individuals who have the willingness to pursue a post high-school education but face challenging circumstances. From food insecurity, to a lack of wardrobe for an interview. What might ordinarily be small bumps in the road for many of us, may become insurmountable obstacles to these learners in need. That is where the WLAC Foundation plays a critical role. In partnership with the West LA Administration, the Foundation is focused on providing a support system that enables truly disadvantaged students to persist and complete. It is an investment into our community and our future. A worthy cause that makes a real difference in the WLA College Community.
The WLAC Foundation is the sponsor of the Food Pantry and the Wardrobe, and the relationships they have built in the community allow the College to provide additional support for students--not only with food and clothing, but with scholarships and emergency grants. Getting to know the students while I volunteered in the Pantry and Wardrobe allowed me to see first-hand these students' perseverance and determination to complete their academic programs while taking care of their families. I cannot think of a more important way to help these deserving students be successful than by donating to the West Los Angeles College Foundation. I consider it an investment in our future.
I volunteered to read scholarship applications and was so awed by the personal stories of students at West LA. So many are juggling responsibilities of parenthood, dealing with past traumas, being the first in their families to go to college and getting an education all at once. The foundation focuses on the whole student and finding ways to make school doable. That includes everything from responding to emergencies and providing food and clothing to improving facilities and proving scholarships for books. I never realized the level of need or what an essential role community colleges play in breaking the cycle of poverty until I started donating and volunteering. Truly money well spent.
The West LA College (WLAC) Foundation team, supported by the broader West LA College and community team members, has taken the time and effort to understand its students' needs with the objective of providing support that allows them to achieve a degree and liveable wage. With so many of our future workforce and leaders enrolled in the community college system, the work done by the Foundation is so important to support vulnerable students but also the longer-term well-being of our community and society. From providing food supplies to educational scholarships, the Foundation also seeks to do its part to support equitable access to education and mitigate income inequality. Please reach out to learn more and how you can support!