Twenty-seven college students from across California were honored last Thursday at Ready to Succeed’s annual graduation ceremony in Los Angeles, marking the culmination of a multi-year program that supports foster youth and first-generation college students as they complete their degrees and prepare for professional careers.
Founded in 2016, Ready to Succeed (RTS) is a nonprofit that helps students impacted by foster care or from low-income first-generation backgrounds succeed in college and beyond. The Los Angeles-based organization provides long-term support including mentorship, career coaching and professional development opportunities. Since its inception, RTS has served more than 400 participants and alumni.
Jess Cagle, former Editor-in-Chief of People and host of The Jess Cagle Podcast on SiriusXM, served as master of ceremonies. Keynote remarks came from RTS alumnus Emmanual Benton, who first met co-founder Patrick McCabe as a student at Brentwood in Santa Monica. Benton reflected on the challenges he faced growing up in foster care and the role RTS played in guiding him through college and into his career.
McCabe, who founded the program alongside Romi Lassally, said the organization was built around a simple goal: helping the 4 percent of foster youth who reach college overcome barriers and build sustainable careers. The idea grew from their personal networks, which they used to introduce students to internships and job opportunities they would not otherwise have had.
“We started walking kids into HBO, into City National Bank, into NBC Universal,” McCabe said. “It wasn’t a level playing field, so we tried to level it.”
RTS now operates with a staff of 24 and an annual budget of $5 million. Students are accepted after enrolling in a four-year college and are supported for three years through one-on-one coaching, monthly workshops, paid internships and a structured career curriculum. McCabe said the goal is not only to help students graduate, but to place them in meaningful employment within six months.
“Our metric is not just graduation, but meaningful employment,” he said. “On their own, they just wouldn’t have the network to get there.”
Over the years, the organization has launched additional programs to support students’ broader needs. Project Dorm Room helps foster youth move into college housing with basic necessities. The Pat McCabe Impact Fellowship funds paid summer internships at small nonprofits. Camp Ready, held each summer at Loyola Marymount University, provides incoming students with intensive training in resume writing, interview preparation and networking skills.
Although the program once served students attending East Coast institutions like Wellesley and Columbia, RTS now focuses its resources on students attending California State University and University of California campuses, where the majority of foster youth in higher education are enrolled.
“Miracles happen. They graduate college,” McCabe said. “But it’s also the hardest month of their life. They lose housing, they lose their meal plans, they lose counseling. And they can’t just move back into their parents’ basement.”
He said that moment of transition is where RTS aims to provide critical support. Many students have already faced housing insecurity, trauma and separation from family. The sudden loss of college-based services can leave them vulnerable again, even with a degree in hand.
Lassally said Thursday’s ceremony highlighted the power of community support. “It was thrilling to have all of our students and all of our supporters,” she said. “I brought up this idea of collective effervescence, which is my new favorite term, because I really identify with that word effervescence. It's light and bright and sort of infectious and it was really nice to see people who come together to support individual students’ journeys recognize the power that they've had and the impact they've made on their lives.”
Not every graduate was able to attend in person, as many were still in finals or preparing for commencement ceremonies at their respective campuses. Those who did attend celebrated both the completion of their degrees and the end of their time in the RTS program.
Graduates earned degrees in fields including sociology, architecture, biology and pre-law. Many plan to enter social work or advocacy roles, motivated by their lived experience and a desire to help others. RTS alumni, now numbering close to 300, serve as mentors, guest speakers and advisors to current students. McCabe said that the network has become one of the most valuable parts of the program.
Among those alumni is Natalie Catalan, a graduate of Wellesley and one of RTS’s earliest students. She is now a vice president at Canyon Partners and serves on the organization’s board. Other alumni have gone on to law school, received Fulbright scholarships or built careers in fields ranging from finance to film.
“All of them are successful,” McCabe said. “Not just because of where they end up, but because of what they overcame to get there.”
McCabe, who spent the first part of his career in sports and television, said RTS has become the most meaningful work of his life. He described it as deeply personal, born out of a desire to build something lasting and rooted in equity.
“I don’t like words like rewarding or fulfilling,” he said. “But when you spend your days around inspiring people, doing something that makes a difference, it doesn’t get better than that.”
A surprise $54,000 check provided by The Change Reaction added to a day already filled with joy and reflection, with the money to be split evenly among the 27 graduates.
scott.snowden@smdp.com