Alhambra Unified School District Gateway to Success
Collaboration Purpose
The mission of the Gateway to Success program is to help each student reach his or her educational potential by addressing the student’s social-emotional, behavioral, and overall well-being.
The Gateway to Success program began more than nine years ago, with a vision to provide comprehensive prevention and mental health intervention services to students enrolled in schools across the Alhambra Unified School District (AUSD). Led by AUSD’s Dr. Laurel Bear—an “educator by heart” who is a teacher, coach, principal, administrator, researcher, and passionate advocate—the program has grown dramatically since its inception.
Gateway to Success involves a set of deeply committed partners. The initial partners—AUSD, police department, mental health services, probation and the courts—decided that a system-of-care format was needed, so they sought and received an initial grant to pilot that type of service delivery on several school campuses.
Gateway to Success heavily integrates the voices of youth and their families. The shared work of the partners was initially inspired by feedback from youth about the need to enhance social-emotional and behavioral health services. In addition, parents are actively involved in the work of the partnership by serving in coaching roles and helping to enhance services so that they truly meet the needs of families in the Alhambra community.
