A new USC-community partnership to encourage students at low-income public high schools in Southern California to stay in school and go to college was unveiled Sept. 20 by USC’s Mexican American Alumni Association, the department store chain La Curacao and Junior Achievement of Southern California.

The first seven USC La Curacao Scholars, all current freshmen, were introduced at the launch of the USC La Curacao Academic Achievement Program at the Davidson Conference Center. Each is receiving a $12,000 scholarship over four years.

The program involves six area high schools – Belmont, Huntington Park, South Gate, Chino, San Bernardino and Valley – all located in cities where La Curacao has stores. La Curacao targets the Latino market, and the proportion of Latinos in these six high schools ranges from 57 percent (Chino) to 99 percent (South Gate).

Henry Cisneros, the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas and secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development who is the chair of the Mexican American Alumni Association advisory council, gave a keynote speech.

Cisneros lauded the goal of recruiting and supporting more Latino students coming to USC. “This commitment to excellence is also a commitment to the social and urban fabric of Los Angeles,” he said.

Cisneros, whose son is a sophomore here, spoke of attending a recent graduation ceremony for students from USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative, the program in which area students spend years attending morning classes at USC as well as additional after-school and Saturday-enrichment classes to prepare for college.

“It was the most moving thing” to see students put up PowerPoint presentations saying thank you to their parents, many of whom could not speak English, Cisneros said. “To take students from the poorest neighborhoods of Los Angeles to the highest levels of education – not many universities in America could make that claim.”

Referring to the USC students who are the initial La Curacao Scholars, Cisneros said “these seven are a proxy for the hundreds of thousands out there who deserve a college education.”

Gabriela Martinez of South Gate, a freshman business administration major who hopes to double major in math, spoke for the seven scholars. This fall, she said, they will return to the six high schools to be part of motivational assemblies.

The initiative also will offer workshops in college prep and life skills, seek to increase parent involvement in education and offer support to high school counselors. Junior Achievement will be involved in providing the blueprints and training for the workshops.

Martinez, who is the first in her family to attend college, said she was frightened to take out loans to attend a prestigious and costly institution but realized that the risk was worth it to reach her future goals of becoming a financial analyst with Merrill Lynch – and a successful mariachi singer.

The other 2007 USC La Curacao Scholars are Carina Dueñas of South Gate, majoring in political science; Anthony Huerta of San Bernardino (accounting); Anay Martinez of Huntington Park (math); Karen Martinez of Huntington Park (biological sciences); Carlos Perez of Huntington Park (accounting); and Rodolfo Ramirez of Los Angeles (architecture).

La Curacao has made an initial gift of $142,000 to the program. USC is matching some of the scholarship money 2 for 1. Seven incoming USC freshmen will be chosen as scholars each year.

Carolyn Webb de Macias, USC’s vice president for external relations, thanked La Curacao owners Jerry and Ron Azarkman for their gift. “Know that you are entrusting your resources to an organization that knows how to value it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

La Curacao began when Jerry Azarkman, an Israeli immigrant, started selling electronics door-to-door in Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles in 1978, knowing neither English or Spanish. His brother Ron moved from Israel to join him two years later.

There are now eight La Curacao stores in Southern California, with more set to open here soon, as well as locations opening in Arizona. The stores sell electronics, appliances and furniture, among other merchandise, and are known for export services to Mexico and Central America that allow customers in California, for example, to have a refrigerator delivered to an address in El Salvador.

Ron Azarkman, company CEO and president (and now fluent in Spanish), said that his company’s financial participation is not as important as giving direction and hope to students in the schools. “Money is not everything. Price is not everything. It’s about having everyone grow together and not leaving people behind.”

Tim Brunold, USC’s associate dean and director of undergraduate admission, said that as the percentage of young Latinos who graduate from high school and go to college continues to decline, “public and private sector partnerships between business and education are precisely the type of initiative we need.”

He said that USC ranks second among private universities in the number of Latino undergraduates (the University of Miami is first) and that this fall, one in nine incoming USC freshmen is the first in the family to attend college. That statistic, he said, is rare among elite universities.

George Ramirez, the chair of Junior Achievement’s Latino Initiative and a member of the Mexican American Alumni Association, closed the celebration by welcoming La Curacao and the new scholars to “The Trojan Familia.”