C5LA

Mission

The mission of the C5 Youth Foundation of Southern California, is to change the odds for high-potential teens from under-resourced communities by inspiring them to pursue personal success, while preparing them for leadership roles in school, college, work and their communities.

History

C5LA was founded in 1999 as the personal philanthropy of John Alm, former President and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprise. After years of sending his own children to summer camp, John saw the impact that it had on their lives, helping them develop personal skills, confidence, and improved self esteem. The camp experience was an amazing lesson in life for all that were fortunate enough to attend. Unfortunately, those children who could benefit the most from such programs were unable to afford such an experience.

With this in mind, John and his wife Carolyn began their mission with the idea of providing not only a camp program, but also a leadership development and life preparatory experience to those who simply had no access to such opportunities. After bringing his initial dream to reality, C5LA has grown in scope from a four week summer camp to what is now a 5 year, year-round Leadership Development and College Preparatory Program, hence our name C5-college in five years. Since the inception of the program, John Alm and the Los Angeles program have inspired others to expand C5 which now serves youth in four other cities across the United States.

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