The Amgen Foundation has announced a three-year, $4.5 million grant to MLA Partner Schools in support of the LA's Promise initiative.

LA's Promise will work to prepare thousands of children from an area of South Los Angeles for college and a healthier, more successful life. The target area encompasses the enrollment zones of two large public high schools, West Adams Prep and Manual Arts. Operated by MLA, the schools are being transformed into community hubs, with fifty-six partners providing more than two hundred different services to students and families. Partners include St. John's Family Well Child and Family Center, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, WestEd, and the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic.

By transforming the two schools as well as their feeder elementary and middle schools, and expanding comprehensive support services to all students and families, MLA and its partners aim to build the foundation for a "neighborhood turnaround." The Amgen Foundation first funded MLA in 2007 and has helped MLA schools outpace the district in a number of key metrics, including attendance, academic growth, and student retention.

"The goal is to go deep, not wide, to see an entire community's children ready for college and life," said MLA president and CEO Mike McGalliard. "The schools are the anchor — a K-12 pipeline of public schools that provide all neighborhood kids the education they deserve as well as the health and social services to meet all of their needs."