C5 Association: Youth Foundation of Southern California

C5 is relentlessly focused on empowering youth from economically disadvantaged and risk-filled environments to successfully complete high school and - as the first of their family- enter college and be equipped to do well once they get there.

The mission of the C5 Youth Program is to inspire high-potential youth from risk-filled environments to pursue personal success, to prepare them for leadership roles in college, work and community, and to motivate them to become role models for others. We do this by engaging middle and high school students from under resourced communities in five years of intensive leadership experiences including year-round leadership development programs, signature summer activities, community service, and preparation for continuing education and career development.

One of the most difficult tasks involved in operating a program such as C5 is selecting the youth who will participate — not because there are so few young people who would benefit from it, but because there are so many. Our selection process is targeted and intensive, designed to select a diverse group of young people who will benefit from our intensive and ongoing leadership development program. Through our nominating partners in each city — middle schools and youth-serving organizations — we receive applications from approximately 200 high-potential seventh grade students who demonstrate a desire to succeed, maintain a B (+ or -) average and possess some leadership skills. They have also been identified as having multiple risk factors in their lives that make success more difficult — poverty, single-parent or no-parent home, prevalence of drugs and/or gangs in their neighborhoods, etc. Through a rigorous application and interview process, each site selects and enrolls 72 rising eighth graders each year.