L A S BEST

LA's BEST aims to ensure that children who reside within economically distressed Los Angeles neighborhoods have the best chances at success in both school and in life. LA's BEST engages children through a eclectic array of education, enrichment and recreation programs that cultivate social, emotional and academic growth among participants.

Every school day, from the time the final school bell rings until 6:00 pm. LA's BEST provides an array of programs designed to cultivate social, emotional academic growth among children in need at no cost to families. Students receive a nutritious meal, followed by help with their homework from highly-trained program staff - primarily young adults who reside within the neighborhoods served by the organization, many of whom are LA's BEST alumni. For the rest of the afternoon, children participate in a wide range of enrichment activities, including sports, arts, robotics, science, and much more. Student choice is an essential LA's BEST value, so participants have many opportunities to choose the clubs and activities they join. Moreover, LA's BEST is intentional in selecting and developing curricula and programs that most effectively meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the organization's service demographic. LA's BEST also offers participants opportunities to attend field trips and special weekend signature Citywide Events, including the Community Jam for Peace, the annual Dance and Drill Team Showcase, Celebrate Science Fair, and a year-round calendar of seasonal athletic competitions in flag football, basketball, softball and soccer.

Mayor Tom Bradley created LA's BEST in 1988 in response to challenges arising from increasing numbers of unsupervised children throughout the City during out-of-school-time – especially within under-resourced Los Angeles neighborhoods that are disproportionately impacted by high rates of poverty and crime. LA's BEST has grown from operating at 10 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) elementary school sites to 193, and currently serves 25,000 children each day during the after school hours, and 6,500 in the LA's BEST Summer Program each year.

Since the organization's inception, LA's BEST has provided more than 400,000 elementary students with out-of-school time learning experiences within safe, stable and stimulating environments to ensure short-term and long-term academic and social success. Further, since 1988, LA's BEST has brought more than $400 million in public and private dollars to the City of Los Angeles, with a significant percentage used for salaries of youth development community staff hired from neighborhoods in which the children served by the organization reside.

Each year, LA's BEST trains more than 2,000 young adults who live in the same communities as the students served to work as teachers, mentors and coaches to the 25,000 children ages five to 12 who rely upon LA's BEST for high-quality, culturally inclusive, and innovative educational and recreational enrichment programming during the after school hours every day. LA's BEST strategically focuses on a workforce development model for field staff consisting of on-going training and development opportunities, while supporting an engaging, child-centered approach to promoting academic and social success among the elementary school students served.

Since 1988, LA's BEST has operated in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide high-quality after school programming for children at elementary schools most in need of additional resources. LA's BEST has been instrumental in helping create after school support systems, including Beyond the Bell, the State of California After School Advisory Committee, and State of California League of After School Providers, all which work with the California Department of Education to advocate for quality after school programming across the State. LA's BEST has also enjoyed the bipartisan support of every Los Angeles City mayor and LAUSD superintendent, and the LA's BEST President and Chief Executive Officer is very active in working with local, state and national elected officials to advocate on behalf of LA's BEST and other out-of-school-time providers serving economically distressed populations.

Recent external evaluations reveal:

- LA's BEST students attend the Program more frequently than students enrolled in other after school programs in Los Angeles, allowing for significant gains in English language arts and math.
- Participants in LA's BEST are 30% less likely than their non-participant peers to commit juvenile crime.
- LA's BEST students are 20% less likely than non-participants to drop out of school, particularly for those who are enrolled in the Program for at least three years.
- Students participating in LA's BEST for 100 days or longer achieve higher scores on standardized tests than their peers who do not attend the Program.

Moreover, in 2011, UCLA CRESST released findings on the impact of participation in LA's BEST during elementary school on middle school attendance and academic outcomes, and concluded that the benefits of participating in LA's BEST persist at least through middle school, with higher achievement closely linked to consistent and long-term involvement in the Program. In fact, the longer students attend LA's BEST in their elementary school years, the greater the gains in math, language arts, science and history during middle school, and participation in LA's BEST is a predictor of better attendance in middle school as compared to non-participant peers. Further, students who had been in LA's BEST demonstrated higher California Standardized Test Scores (CST) in general math and algebra during middle school than their non-participant peers, and those who had attended LA's BEST 140 days or longer were more likely to take two semesters of algebra in middle school.