The Windsong Trust - Fueling the Vision

We are very happy to announce our latest news, a $250,000 30th anniversary gift from the Windsong Trust. The Trustees of the Windsong Trust visited Strive for the first time in 2015 and have been strengthening our program and students ever since. We are particularly grateful for this type of gift because it allows us to think strategically for the long-term and the room to execute.  Funding for smaller non-profits such as ours is typically sporadic and cyclical making long-term program goals difficult to plan and achieve. Windsong and the Trustees have been a breath of fresh air to Strive, their heart is truly with the children of South LA and we cannot thank them enough for all the work they do. 

Our dedicated team of instructors strive every day to make the Windsong Trust team proud of their investment in our students and in Strive.  A big, deep thank you to them and their faith in our work in the Watts community!

Summertime at Strive

Summer at Strive calls for sun and exploration! It is hard to believe how quickly the 2017-18 school-year has come to an end. We are happy to share news of progress toward reaching our capital/construction goals! We'd like to thank our community and families for their support during this time of growth and expansion, we are beyond grateful!
Before the year's end, Strive held a Spring Showcase Luncheon in which we invited friends, family, and donors of Strive to join us in the unveiling of our expansion plans. We enjoyed an afternoon of tasty food provided by EveryTable and magical entertainment by our friend, Siegfried Tieber. To celebrate all of the hard work and progress our students made this year, we celebrated with our year-end "Friday Finale". Friday Finale is a special month-end event in which those students who worked hard in class and maintained good attendance are invited for a day of play and community with one another. Our kids enjoyed a day of food and fun activities under the sun in our classrooms and courtyard. One lucky student won a free Wii-U donated to Strive by our instructor, Mr. Casey!

Strive is in full swing of all things summer, recently returning from our 15th annual trip to Bass Lake and Yosemite. This year's trip was truly magical, we are blessed to be able to offer this experience to our kids. You can learn more about our yearly excursion here. Now in the midst of our summer session, we aim to offer our students an interactive, literacy intensive learning experience unlike any other. Each week's "disguised learning" lessons focus on different themes such as technology, cultures, the arts, the environment and historical figures. We incorporate field trips as a way to get kids active and learning outside of the classroom. Our special trip each summer session is to Jana's Beach Party in Alamitos Bay, generously hosted by our board member, Jana Merical. It is a joy to see children enjoying the ocean water, many for the first time, discovering life and adventure through sand castles and water sports. Thank you Jana, for making this special day possible for our kids! 

With a new academic year on the horizon, we are keeping the positive momentum going as there is much to look forward to with program and facility expansion. We hope to begin building Summer 2019. 

Stand Together at Strive

Lauren McCann, Executive Vice President of the non-profit Stand Together, visited Strive recently and wrote about her experience.  See her piece.  

In the spring of 2016 Strive was introduced to the non-profit Stand Together by donor and board member Gary Wilson. Following a site visit Strive was asked to join Stand Together’s Catalyst network, a group of organizations selected for their demonstrated track records, strong appetites for growth, and high potential to impact critical social problems.  Stand Together is supporting Strive with training and funding, as well as connections to like-minded people and organizations.

Strive in the LA Business Journal

See our unique appeal in this week’s LA Business Journal - the year’s most popular edition featuring the wealthiest Los Angelinos.

LA Business Journal - 5/16/2016

Spirit Week!

Although in some sense every week at Strive is spirit week, this week we went over above.   

Goodbye Ms. Angela

Yesterday we said goodbye to Ms. Angela, one of our 4th grade instructors.  With tears and hugs our students showed their appreciation for all of her hard work at Strive.  We would just like to say, on behalf of all of our staff and students, good luck Angela in all your personal and professional pursuits.

Property Aquisition

As we enter our 26th year we’re happy to share news about our acquisition of the property adjoining Strive.  As we demolish, design and renovate this much needed addition to our Mini Campus, we will be able to take in more students from our wait list, expand the academic and support services we provide, while adding a garden and play area for our students.

With this acquisition Strive now owns ½ the block and this leverage allows us to move forward with our long-term plans to develop the remainder of the block.  We are happy to say this acquisition and planned expansion was achieved with grant assistance from the Ahmanson Foundation.

With a track record of 26 years of community service, and with the increasing momentum of our property/program expansion we hope you will support or expansion efforts.