Press Release
7/28/2011

At-Risk Teens Graduate from High School, Head to College With Support From Majestic Realty Foundation, Los Angeles Youth Leadership Council

Inner-city students from the Los Angeles youth centers celebrate their high school graduation and show off sweatshirts for their intended colleges at the recent Los Angeles Youth Leadership Center (LAYLC) graduation ceremony in Los Angeles. The LAYLC is a flagship program of the Majestic Realty Foundation.

 Kevin Solis looked out at the faces of the high school graduates, knowing the strange combination of fear and excitement they felt. Just two years earlier, the University of Wisconsin student had been in their place, celebrating a hard-earned high school diploma and preparing to leave the inner city of Los Angeles for college.

“Believe in yourself, take risks and always remember where you came from,” Solis advised the graduating seniors from the Los Angeles Youth Leadership Council (LAYLC), at a June 13 celebration held at the Salvation Army Red Shield Youth & Community Center.

Established by the Majestic Realty Foundation, LAYLC brings together students from LA’s inner-city youth centers for leadership training, community service and college preparatory activities.


“The LAYLC works on many levels,” said Irene de Anda Lewis, executive director of the Salvation Army Red Shield.  “In neighborhoods where families and schools may not have the extra resources to help students achieve and succeed, young people turn to their local youth centers for support. By establishing the LAYLC, the Majestic Realty Foundation is investing in true, LA success stories. Best of all, these are students who will likely come back to Los Angeles as a new generation of civic leaders.”

 

The 21 graduating seniors from LAYLC for 2011 represented six youth centers and attend 16 different high schools. 

Many of them are the first in their families to earn a high school degree and all will attend professional training programs or college in the fall. The graduates plan to attend Middlebury College in Vermont, Whitman College in Washington state, UC Riverside, and the LAPD’s Police Orientation & Preparation Program at Ahmanson Training Center, to name a few.

“Despite their individual hardships, these students have learned to dream big,” said Fran Inman, president of the Majestic Realty Foundation. “By supporting each other and participating in the Los Angeles Youth Leadership Council, they have achieved a milestone so many young people don’t – a high school diploma. Furthermore, they are all committed to pursuing professional training and higher education.

In addition to LAYLC alumni like Solis, civic leader Paola Santana also spoke to the graduates, citing the importance of education as the key to upward mobility.  “I’m so proud of the steps you’ve taken to be engaged and active citizens,” Santana told the graduates. “Like you, I might have been a student who would have fallen through the cracks, but I’m here today to tell you that you can achieve your dreams and be a leader in your community.”

Santana is a first generation college graduate who will be attending Harvard University in the fall to pursue her master’s degree in higher education. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Santana has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on projects to improve education and the future workforce.

Simon Flores, LAYLC coordinator for the Majestic Realty Foundation and Program Coordinator, Education & Workforce Development, for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, also attended the inspirational graduation celebration. “I was very moved by the stories the LAYLC graduates and alumni shared about overcoming their hardships and achieving against all odds,” Flores said.  “These kids are true heroes and I look forward to a day when they return to Los Angeles to be the business and civic leaders of tomorrow.”

At the graduation celebration, the students were presented with a college sweatshirt from their intended school, as well as with a gift card for the purchase of school and dorm supplies.

Established in 2002, the Majestic Realty Foundation provides grants and other support to various charitable community partners that work in the areas of youth, family, education, health and violence prevention in the areas where Majestic Realty Co., one of the nation’s leading private commercial real estate developers, does business. For information visit: www.majesticfoundation.org.