Making a Difference: The Fulfillment Fund : In For the Long Haul

A college education is an increasingly distant dream for low-income students. But hundreds of Southern California youths are getting a head start on higher education through a 10-year program of financial, academic and moral support offered by the Fulfillment Fund, a charitable group that focuses on education.

“We start with eighth-graders and guarantee a partial college scholarship so they know we’re here for the duration,” says Todd Mandel, one of 13 staff members of the Century City-based nonprofit group. “That can mean providing transportation to tests or allaying concerns of parents who may not see the immediate benefits of advanced schooling.”

More than 300 public school students are paired with business professionals who will mentor them through high school; 385 others are attending colleges across the country on partial scholarships from the fund. Executive Director Andrea Cockrum notes that 77% of the fund’s $1-million annual budget comes from individuals: “A lot of people care about Los Angeles’ future.”

HOW IT WORKS

Started in 1977 to provide activities for disabled youth, the fund added programs for able-bodied children in the mid-’80s. By 1990, it adopted its comprehensive approach after realizing that students needed a structured mentoring and scholarship program if they were to avoid gangs, drugs and teen-age pregnancy and go on to college. Each year, the fund works with 15 different Los Angeles Unified middle schools from Canoga Park to San Pedro to find 100 promising low-income students, who are then matched with mentors.

Below is a look at the partnership forged between Mario Urbano, a junior at Nathaniel Narbonne High School in Harbor City, and his mentor, Nand Harjani, owner of a real estate firm in Torrance.

Selection: Urbano was one of about a dozen eighth-graders nominated by a counselor at Fleming Middle School in 1992. Candidates must attend school regularly, not be involved in drugs or gangs and have college potential but lack the funds. Most will be the first in their families to go beyond high school. A fund administrator and social worker visit the school and pare the list to the six or so students they feel will do best.

Pairing Up: The fund connects Urbano with Harjani, following a policy of linking same-sex pairs who live relatively near each other. “We are a good match because he is interested in architecture and I know a lot of architects as I work in real estate,” says Harjani, who was introduced to the program by his wife, Nancy, another mentor.

Mandel says there is a critical need for men in the mentor program. Mentors include secretaries, casting directors, veterinarians and bank presidents. All are 25 or older, nonsmokers, must pass a background check and make a five-year commitment.

Teamwork: After meeting the boy’s parents, Harjani and Urbano get together monthly for dinner or an outing; they talk on the phone more often. “I like ice skating so we talked about hockey at first,” says Urbano, 16. “[Harjani] asks me tough questions that make me think why I have to pick classes, like drafting, that will help me later.”

Graduation: After completing high school, the fund guarantees Urbano at least $1,000 a year for up to five years to attend vocational school or college. Like all alumni, his “payback” will be to mentor three other students after finishing school.

THE VIEW FROM A “GRADUATE”

“Going to UCLA was a dream of mine, but when I was accepted, my mother and I spent an hour crying because we didn’t have the money. The Fulfillment Fund helped me find financial aid, even an extra sponsor I needed for survival. After graduation, I want to become a mentor and be there for someone else the way they’ve always been there for me.”

--TAHIRA HOKE, 20, psychology major in her fourth year at UCLA

A BACKER’S PERSPECTIVE

“The Fulfillment Fund is the only local effort I am aware of that sticks with kids long-term. They get to know the students personally, and with the mentor, provide another sort of family to encourage success. This is the especially needed in Los Angeles, where there are so many working parents whose attention may be focused elsewhere.”

--ANNETTE MORALES, Program officer, Arco Foundation

TO GET INVOLVED, CALL (310) 788-9700

Researched by PATRICIA A. KONLEY / For The Times