Who We Are

Founded in 1994, Operation Jump Start is a Long Beach community based non-profit program dedicated to assisting disadvantaged youth who show strong academic promise to succeed academically and in life.

With a mission to provide structure and resources for disadvantaged Long Beach youth, ages 12-18, to realize their full potential through a college education, Operation Jump Start is assisting these students to become tomorrow’s leaders. Many of our students come from single-parent, low-income, immigrant and refugee families. All are first generation college entrants and many are first generation high school graduates. We match each of our students with a volunteer adult mentor who provides them with a powerful example of the opportunities, both professional and social, available to the college-educated. The five-year relationship with the same mentor is a significant factor in the success of the OJS students.

The primary goal of this program is to change the lives of disadvantaged youth through education. According to the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center (Cities in Crisis, 2008), in the 2003-2004 school year only 63.5% of students graduated from high school! We work with the LBUSD middle school and high school counselors to identify and assist those students who, without an organization like ours, would not have the opportunity to go to college.

The futures of our students change drastically with the interventions we provide to them. The mentors give them role-models; the programs give them skills; and the combination gives them hope. With higher education being the true goal of OJS, the combination of all these elements improves the likelihood that each student will reach that goal.

What We Do

The OJS mentoring program is based on a Youth Development Model. Students served receive interventions and personal attention designed to develop their competencies, characters and relationships to their community. Our enrichment activities include a variety of educational workshops, cultural activities and community service events:

Opportunities

If you want to become a mentor or volunteer, click Donations and then the suitable position.