Our Motivation

Pasadena is the Crown City—home of the Rose Bowl, the Rose Parade, Caltech. But there is a different side to Pasadena than what the world sees on New Year’s Day. Pasadena consistently ranks in the top ten cities with the highest income disparity in the state of California, and one of the highest private-to- public school enrollment ratios in the nation. That means Pasadena Unified School District serves an increasingly low-income urban student population with fewer and fewer resources. Across America’s hard-to- serve urban areas, public school students drop out of school in alarming numbers, and for those that do graduate, the road to post-secondary education is filled with obstacles. Too many of America’s high school students are underserved and, as a result, are underperforming. Pasadena is a city of tremendous resources—the problem is that the resources are not shared equitably. By providing holistic support to students and families—through after-school programming, mentoring, college readiness, and parent engagement—Stars is providing the resources that help make dreams a reality.