Grantee Spotlight Archive

Educating Minds, Inspiring Futures

While the task is serious – providing education support and mentorship to Los Angeles youth – the vibrant offices of Educating Young Minds reflect the humor and energy the staff imparts to all its students. Educating Young Minds (EYM) is a learning center that has been helping inner-city school children, ages 5-18, excel at school and at life since 1987. EYM has received numerous grants through College Access Foundation of California for a scholarship program that is now providing annual funds to 52 students currently enrolled in colleges and universities nationwide. EYM already has an impressive 100 percent high school graduation rate of the students that pass through the required probationary period, and an almost 90 percent college graduation rate. Students have graduated from universities including Stanford, USC, UC Berkeley, Howard and the University of Michigan.

Executive director and founder Angeles Echols and her committed staff, including Vusisizwe Azania and Terrence Budd (directors in academics and programming), provide K-12 support programs in home schooling, after-school tutoring, college financial and admissions seminars, and exam preparation. Ms. Echols is as passionate about the need for college funding as when she began helping students out of her apartment nearly 20 years ago.

“We have students who are unable to finance their dreams of a college education, and some lack the support system to see them through the challenging process of earning a degree,” she said. “College Access Foundation allows EYM to provide these students renewable scholarships to ease the financial burdens that are escalating each year.”

Ms. Echols’ latest vision is to help create “mega schools” that will house the best in academics, social support, health and emotional counseling, etiquette training, and college prep for students regardless of academic or financial standing. And she has a long-term plan for EYM: “My hope is that every child has the same opportunity to excel, to receive the best care for their whole being, and that money should never limit the ambitions and dreams of the inspired student.”

For more information on College Access Foundation grants visit our Grants page. To read more College Access Foundation grantee spotlights, visit our Spotlight Archive.

To learn more about Educating Young Minds, visit www.educatingyoungminds.org.