Partner Spotlight: The PwC Foundation

Day two of a PIQ workshop, as high school students learn to include their personal stories in their Personal Insight Question responses.

For five years straight, the PwC Foundation has helped PLUS ME Project change and expand the services we offer students. It began with our Personal Insight Question (PIQ) workshop, guiding students applying to the University of California through selecting which prompts to answer, conveying their experiences through personal storytelling, and using tools for clearer, more compelling writing. After delivering workshops through several partnerships across Los Angeles, schools shared feedback that they would love to invite us back for more one-on-one support.

PwC made that possible. Thanks to PwC's funding, we created a new program: 1:1 College Essay Support, providing individualized feedback sessions for students to refine their essays using our storytelling techniques. In the first year, we aimed to reach 100 students. We ultimately reached 547 at 25 sites across Los Angeles. This 1:1 College Essay Support service has become one of our most requested programs, and it changed how we work. Our typical five-hour workshops serve large groups in a classroom, while a 1:1 session allows a facilitator to give their entire attention to one student's story.

At South East High School, a full classroom warms up with a word association game.

At Manuel Dominguez High School, one student reviews her college essay draft with a facilitator.

Last year, 98% of students we worked with through this program agreed they felt better prepared to complete their college personal statement after a session, and 99% would recommend it to their peers. And we have seen the impacts firsthand: PLUS ME Partnership Specialist Karol Curiel-Kozycz ran into a graduating senior from Fremont High School, a GEAR UP student who had worked with one of our facilitators in a 1:1 session the year before. He said the session was so helpful, and that he is now committed to Northwestern University.

Headed to Northwestern University, a Fremont High School graduate celebrates with PLUS ME Partnership Specialist Karol Curiel-Kozycz.

But not every student's path leads to college. Thanks to PwC’s support, we also created College, Career, and Beyond, a workshop for students focused on a career path after high school, built on the foundation of each participant's story. In it, high school juniors and seniors identify their strengths, build a career action plan, review resumes, draft cover letters, and practice interviews. We implemented the job/college interview lesson at two sites throughout April and May 2025, reaching 275 high school seniors at Dymally High School and Santee High School.

We meet students during one of the most important chapters of their lives: approaching graduation, making decisions for themselves, and taking ownership of their stories and their future. PwC helped us reimagine the way we support youth during this chapter, and we look forward to discovering new, effective ways to continue this work. Thank you to the PwC Foundation for five years of partnership, and for investing in the personal stories of Los Angeles youth.

A student refines her college essay responses with a facilitator during a 1:1 session at Alliance Margaret M. Bloomfield High School.