Heart of Los Angeles: College access to underserved kids

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What used to be a luxury reserved exclusively for the rich is now a right that everyone deserves to have—education. The Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), an organization providing underserved youth with exceptional programs in academics, arts, and athletics, believes that kids belonging to low-income families should get an equal opportunity in attaining a college education from top-tier institutions.

HOLA attests that such kids have a low representation at top colleges and universities in the US but are overly represented at public access two-year schools. There are several reasons why it is such a struggle for underprivileged youth to get through elite colleges, and topping the list is the fact that low-income families can’t afford the cost of applying to more than one college. Kids also often face the pressure from their parents to stay local, or worse, to skip college. Moreover, the lack of outside support causes teens to not have a better understanding of their abilities and talents. Hence, they wouldn’t know what their choices are in college, which sometimes results to the decision of not going to college at all.

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HOLA understands that intervention is indicative of significant worth for all kids to have a bright future. It firmly values the need to strengthen more nationally recognized programs that exercise efforts of putting low-income youth in selective colleges. The organization appeals to these colleges to readdress their application and admission processes in order to widen their doors to low-income youth.

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Philanthropist Alex von Furstenberg’s advocacy to help the youth get access to education has been going on for years as evidenced by his support for the Heart of Los Angeles, among other organizations. Get to know more of his humanitarian efforts on this Facebook page.

Start small, dream big: Focusing on future changemakers

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When people think of the problems in society, they see many great obstacles to equality, peace, and prosperity. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, it can sometimes be easy to forget just how many people are willing to work and do some good in order to change the status quo.

Commonly overlooked in endeavors to make lasting changes to society are the young people. Adults often expect very little of the youth. They are repeatedly told to stay out of trouble and to continue with their studies. But what if the young people of today are already ready? What if they just need some encouragement and guidance to take on the larger problems in society?

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By averting one’s eyes from the problems for a while, one can see that there are many people who are willing to work for social change, including the youth. Presently, young people have already faced their fair share of inequalities found in society. Many of them have gone beyond themselves to show compassion, stand up against injustice, and contribute to their community.

As programs like the Peace First prize show, many of today’s youth do have great ideas on how to create lasting changes to society. Acknowledging their ideas seriously and inviting them to take on important roles as early as now can encourage them to continue working for their vision of a better future.

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Find more articles on effective philanthropy on this Alexander von Fürstenberg blog site.