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It’s a crisp Saturday morning in August and the USC campus is abuzz with students. 

Football season hasn’t yet started, and classes aren’t in session — and the students in question aren’t college students at all.

The campus is overrun with middle schoolers who line two sides of a red carpet waiting to welcome the newest class of sixth graders. This celebration is part of the summer program run by the USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI), a 34-year-old college access and success program aimed at preparing 6^th-12^th grade students living in the neighborhoods surrounding USC’s University Park and Health Sciences Campuses. 

This first day is a rite of passage: The newest scholars walk a red carpet into a lecture hall where they begin their journey to college. Their odds of getting into college are pretty good: Since 1997, 99% of the 1,596 local students who have participated in NAI have gone to college.

Currently, 241 NAI scholars are enrolled as undergraduates at USC, all on full or partial scholarships, pursuing undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Many of the other 173 NAI grads, all first-generation students of color, have enrolled at some of the top universities in the nation. 

Most of these students have come from Foshay Learning Center, a local public school on the corner of Western Ave and Exposition Blvd in the heart of South Los Angeles. This school has been a partner of the NAI program since the program’s early years, and together, they’ve become a powerhouse duo. The school sends a remarkable number of students to college each year. In fact, Foshay sends more of its graduates to USC than any other high school in the nation. No other elite university has a similar relationship with an inner-city public school. 

NAI is part of a unique partnership between USC and its neighbors. USC promises NAI scholars who participate in the program a full financial aid package, without loans, if they are accepted. For most of these neighborhood students, that means a full ride. 

In 2024, Wilson High School, Lincoln High School and Foshay Learning Center, NAI’s three partner high schools, were the top three feeders to USC from the Los Angeles Unified School District. In the 2024 class of 95 NAI seniors, 100% were collegebound, with 65 admitted to USC. 

Sixty accepted the invitation but 5 declined, opting instead for CalTech, Harvard, CalState LA and UCLA. Since 1997, 35% of the 1,596 graduates of the NAI program have entered USC as freshman (another 7% as transfers), 10% have entered other 4-year private universities, 19% have entered the UC system, 16% have entered the Cal State system, 1% have entered other state system colleges, 16% have entered 2-year community colleges in preparation for entry to USC or other 4-year universities, and less than 1% have entered vocational colleges. 

The scholars who are accepted to USC apply like every other incoming freshman and receive no special treatment in the admissions process. These students are accepted based on their merit. What the NAI program does is get the students ready by ensuring that they have the skills required to be a strong student, to persist and excel. 

USC graduate, Sulara, who is now headed for law school remarks, “NAI offered me a better version of myself. Whenever I felt like all odds were against me, NAI gave me the courage I needed to persevere.”

It is important to note that the NAI program doesn’t limit its recruitment to the top students. Students apply to the program as fifth graders. When reviewing applications the selection committee looks for enthusiasm and commitment. Once they are accepted the students and their families commit to investing the next seven years in NAI’s rigorous academic preparation program, beginning to develop themselves as a college-bound family.

This model has become a movement. Visit the USC campus on any given Saturday and you will find a team of over 100 NAI staff and volunteers who wholeheartedly believe in this work, in large part, because it worked for them. NAI hires many of its graduates to ensure that current scholars can see themselves as future college students. The model works and should serve as an example to other colleges, universities if they are serious about disrupting the cycle of poverty and expanding educational opportunity.

Kim Thomas-Barrios is the Associate Senior Vice President of Educational Partnerships, K-12 at USC. Lizette Zarate is the Program Director of NAI. Pedro Noguera is the Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.