Orozco Community Academy Shares Elev8’s Successes with the U.S. Department of Education
Alex Morales
Published: July 12, 2010
Mr. Retana adressing Elev8 parents
On Wednesday July 7, 2010, Pilsen’s Orozco Community Academy hosted a visit by Mr. Alberto Retana, Director of Community Outreach for the U.S. Department of Education in order to showcase all the success achieved through the Elev8 initiative and lay the foundation for leveraging future support for the program and the school. Elev8, now in its 3rd year, is a pilot program at Orozco that run dozens of after-school programs for students and parents and provides other integrated services for families.
Sonia shares her story
During his visit, Mr. Retana took a tour of the Orozco Academy, including its full service health clinic operated in partnership with Alivio Medical Center. An open forum discussion that took place during the visit highlighted many examples of the transformational success of Elev8. “Elev8 has improved our quality of life at many levels but, most important, it has given us an opportunity to grow as parents to be able to help our children succeed academically and beyond” shared Sonia Espinoza, a parent-leader, Elev8 participant and full time volunteer at Orozco.
During the discussion Mr. Retana took notes, shared stories about his upbringings and experience as a community organizer in South Los Angeles, CA, and enthusiastically praised the dynamic parent leadership at Orozco Academy. “The Department of Education is interested in supporting programs that work and with Elev8 proven success is easier to make the case for funding to extend this great initiative.”
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