BOOST: Building Outstanding Opportunities for Students to Thrive
About BOOST
In November 2024, the Foundation launched its most ambitious effort to date. BOOST—Building Outstanding Opportunities for Students to Thrive— a transformative program designed to bridge the gap between financial aid, wages, and the rising cost of living for students in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).
BOOST is a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) program that will provide $1,000 per month for 12 months in unconditional cash payments to a cohort of 250 students, with a particular emphasis on those pursuing careers in clinical, allied, or behavioral health.
The program focuses on four LACCD colleges: East LA College, LA City College, LA Trade-Technical College, and LA Southwest College. Over the year-long program, a total of $3 million will be granted to students.
BOOST is the largest GBI program for community college students in the U.S. to date and the first to include a Randomized Control Trial (RCT).
Through a mixed-method, randomized control trial led by the University of Pennsylvania, BOOST will also provide insights into the lives of LACCD students and how to improve programming and philanthropic efforts to support their success.
The program is made possible through more than $4 million in private funding from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, The Young Adults Forward Fund, The ECMC Foundation, and The Weingart Foundation.
Click here to learn more about the students BOOST is serving and how it fits into the context of guaranteed payment programs across the U.S.
BOOST 2.0
Building on the early learnings and impacts of the BOOST pilot, the Foundation is now working to identify funding for additional cohorts. These may be focused on a specific career pathway, as was the model in the pilot cohort, or a target demographic of students. Two emerging concepts are a focus on student parents and/or students pursing skilled trades, for example.
LA Times: Can $1,000 a month get more students into nursing
Cal Matters: These LA community college students are getting paid to go to school. Here’s how
Inside Higher Education: A Guaranteed Income Program for Community College Students
LAist: These community college grads are headed to universities. A basic income program helped make it happen
LAist: Not just rent: How LA college students are using $1,000 of monthly guaranteed income
Spectrum News 1: LA community college students in health care majors to get $1K monthly for a year
EdSource: LA Community College District gives students $1,000 to provide stability
ABC7: Guaranteed basic income program will pay 250 LA Community College District students $1,000 per month
Future Education Magazine: Boosting Dreams: LA Community College Students Receive $1,000 Monthly Stipends to Pursue Healthcare Careers
