Los Angeles, CA—On Friday, June 12, 2009, the NCLR (National Council of La Raza) Escalera Program: Taking Steps to Success will graduate 74 students from its AltaMed Health Services Corporation site in East Los Angeles, California. Created by NCLR, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, and funded by PepsiCo Foundation and PepsiCo Inc., the Escalera Program promotes economic mobility for Latino youth by increasing educational attainment, career planning, and access to information about advanced careers. Before participating in the program, these students were labeled “at risk” of not graduating high school, and now they will receive over $40,000 in academic scholarships to attend institutions of higher learning.

“Escalera is NCLR’s recipe for supporting the personal, social, and leadership development of young Latinos, while effectively cultivating the future talent pipeline and increasing the number of highly-skilled, educated Latino youth,” says Simon Lopez, NCLR’s Senior Director of Workforce and Leadership Development. “NCLR is proud to partner with AltaMed Health Services Corporation, PepsiCo Foundation, and PepsiCo Inc. in delivering an effective, high-quality after-school program that creates a pathway to success for Hispanic youth.”

In East Los Angeles, where high school graduation rates for minority students are low, the Escalera Program challenges young people to aim higher, demand more, and work harder toward achieving their goals. Through the Escalera program, young Latinos have the opportunity to access academic support, career planning services, and case management resources; obtain peer-to-peer mentoring; participate in paid internships; and interact with mentors from corporate America.

For more information, visit www.nclr.org.

MEDIA ADVISORY

About the Escalera Program
The NCLR Escalera Program: Taking Steps to Success model has been implemented in seven cities throughout the country. To date, 94% of enrolled students have completed the Escalera Program and graduated from high school, and 91% have gone on to enroll in postsecondary institutions. By 2010, the NCLR Escalera Program will have served nearly 1,200 Latino youth nationwide.