City Scholars® Foundation

Established in 1993 by a Harvard honors graduate, City Scholars® Foundation is a privately funded, tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.

WHO WE ARE:

We are City Scholars® Foundation, a small yet growing philanthropic organization founded in 1993. We believe every child deserves a quality education regardless of their zip code or family income. In high-poverty, under-resourced communities, education nonprofits play a critical role helping youth succeed both in and out of the classroom. That’s why we’re passionately committed to helping education nonprofits thrive.

WHAT WE DO:

To survive and thrive, quality education nonprofits depend upon resourceful, resilient and collaborative leaders who need more than heart to keep the lights on and the doors open. Because education counts and leadership matters, we partner with executive volunteer donors, corporate and foundation partners and other leadership donors to sponsor the City Scholars® Fellowship for Education.

As a collaborative, tuition-free leadership and capacity building institute, our Fellowship for Education invests in and partners with a diverse community of highly-motivated nonprofit CEOs (distinguished as City Scholars® Foundation Fellows) to grow out-of-school time and school-based education nonprofits (currently 21) from survival to success to significance. Together, our Foundation Fellows and the education nonprofits they lead empower over 56,000 low-income, high-potential youth each year throughout the five-county Greater Los Angeles region to succeed in school, at work and in life. Be inspired at www.cityscholars.org.

OUR RETURN ON INVESTMENT:

Working with City Scholars® Foundation allows every member of TEAM City Scholars® (Board, Executive Council and Staff) to significantly multiply the impact of their contributions. Because, every hour our TEAM invests supports not only the Foundation, but also directly helps build the leadership, capacity and impact of all 21 education nonprofits currently led by our Foundation Fellows and more than 46 other education nonprofits led by former Foundation Fellows.

Best of all, working with TEAM City Scholars® offers a unique opportunity to transform the lives of more than 56,000 predominantly low-income youth each year. Youth served by our Foundation Fellows and the 21 education nonprofits they lead are 54% Latino, 9% Black, 23% White, 7% Multiracial, 5% Asian, 1% American Indian/Alaska Native, 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and, more than 78% qualify for the subsidized public school lunch program and/or attend more than 700 Title I public schools in 82 school districts throughout Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties.

OUR HISTORY:

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Kelli Ann Hogan dreamed of starting a foundation to help after-school programs better serve thousands of low-income youth like the young girl she mentored in the Boston public housing projects. Graduating with honors, Kelli established City Scholars® Foundation in 1993 to help education nonprofits thrive.

Since 1993, the Foundation has awarded small grants to neighborhood afterschool programs in Los Angeles (1994 – 1998); provided free management and curriculum training for staff representing over 85 afterschool programs in Los Angeles County (1999 – 2013); and, since 2014, sponsored the City Scholars® Fellowship for Education, a collaborative, high-impact, tuition-free leadership and capacity building institute that brings corporate and community leaders together to strengthen and accelerate the impact of critical education nonprofits.