¡Adelante Latina!

¡Adelante Latina!
Institution
¡Adelante Latina!
State
Maryland
Academic Level
Community-Based Organization
Issue Area
Access
Key Personnel
Program Focus
College Prep,
Females/Latinas

Overview

The mission of ¡Adelante Latina! is to help 10th-12th grade Latinas in Baltimore City public high schools overcome the socio-cultural, economic, and academic barriers they face in pursuing a college career. ¡Adelante Latina! a free after-school three-year college preparatory program strives to improve high school performance by providing expert teachers and caring tutors and preparing students for reading, vocabulary, and writing skills comprehension and SAT preparation.

Program Description

¡Adelante Latina! prepares students for college admissions and scholarships. Each student has their own private tutor who, if possible, stays with the same student for all three years in the program, and continues to mentor the student during their college years. Most of the tutors are older, retired, and professional women who are extremely engaged with their students and have the time and knowledge to help with English vocabulary, reading, and comprehension.

They also provide individualized math tutoring and a year-round SAT programming. Each graduating senior who goes on to college is provided with a one-year $3,000 scholarship. They must maintain a 3.0 GPA, demonstrate competency in English, ambition, leadership potential, a supportive home environment, and a passion for learning.

Outcome

  • They served 34 high school Latinas enrolled in Baltimore City Public Schools in 2019-20 through the ¡Adelante Latina! after school program and 100% of the students participated in the five-week virtual summer camp.
  • In 2019-2020, 13 students graduated from high school and 100% of the graduates will be attending college in the fall. 
  •  25% of their 2013 graduates received full, four-year scholarships and the remaining students will be attending their freshman year debt free through partial college scholarship, college financial aid, FAFSA and Maryland financial aid, plus outside scholarship applications. 
  • Student retention within the program has improved from 25% for the Class of 2016 to 80% for the Class of 2017 and a projected 83% for the Class of 2018 and 80% for the Class of 2019, respectively.
  • 93% of participants have transitioned to higher education institutions.