The USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI) opens pathways to college through rigorous academic preparation and a commitment that begins in sixth grade and continues through college graduation.

Our seven-year college access and success program annually serves nearly 1,000 sixth through twelfth-grade scholars in South, East, and Southwest Los Angeles. With a longstanding commitment to first-generation students from low-income households, NAI helps scholars develop the skills, confidence, and knowledge to pursue their college ambitions.

Through academic instruction, after-school tutoring, Saturday Academy, and summer enrichment, scholars prepare for the demands of higher education. Individualized college advising, campus visits, career exploration, and leadership opportunities help them plan for their futures. Our Family Development Institute engages parents and caregivers as partners, providing resources and guidance to support their children’s success.

That support continues beyond high school. Through NAI’s College Success Initiative, scholars receive advising and guidance to navigate college and persist toward their first undergraduate degree.

Your generosity also helps us reach more families. Building on our expansion to East Los Angeles in 2013 and Southwest Los Angeles in 2023, NAI welcomed its first high school cohorts at Crenshaw and Dorsey high schools in fall 2026. These scholars are continuing a college preparation journey that began with NAI in middle school.

A gift to NAI invests in years of preparation, steady guidance, and opportunities for scholars to discover what they can achieve. Your support sustains the academic and family programming that helps students enter college prepared and stay on the path to graduation.

A gift to the USC NAI program will help more scholars turn their college aspirations into degrees.

On behalf of our scholars, their families, and the entire USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative team, thank you for your generosity.