LA's Promise

LA's Promise (formerly known as MLA Partner Schools) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California. Its focus is on school reform and neighborhood revitalization. It currently operates two large public high schools and one middle school on a first-of-its-kind performance contract with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). These schools are West Adams Preparatory High School, Manual Arts High School and John Muir Middle School, with a total student enrollment of approximately 6,000 students. LA's Promise's first school, West Adams Preparatory High School, is applauded as a new model for non-charter public schools because of its unique programs and student culture.

LA's Promise is one of the first nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles to operate a non-charter public school with the opening of West Adams Prep in 2007. The school's model of shared leadership between LAUSD and LA's Promise became a new model teamwork between the private and public sectors for public school operation. In 2008, LA's Promise became one of four nonprofit organizations known as "Network Providers" working within LAUSD's newly created iDesign Schools Division to create the speedy turnaround of a select number of LAUSD's lowest performing schools. Among the four Network Partners is the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS), a nonprofit created by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to drive his school reform agenda.