Our Founder's Story
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Primos founder, Alicia Serrato, knows the difficulty that comes with finding a post-high school path firsthand. She was inspired to start Primos through her upbringing as a 1st generation Mexican American and her experience as a 13-year public school educator. As a young Latina who grew up in Pleasant Grove, Alicia lacked the guidance of a mentor and found it difficult to navigate college and her entrance into the workforce. She was lucky to find a career she loved and would later learn the value of mentoring relationships. As a public-school educator, Alicia mentored many students who, much like her, lacked role models and guidance and therefore, had no post-high school plan. Over her career, she saw students lose interest in school, often due to a lack of positive role models. |
Forming Authentic Relationships
Listen to our founder, Alicia Serrato, speak about how a student inspired her to form Primos.
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Our HistoryEstablished in 2018, Primos was founded with the goal of guiding Latino high school students with the help of motivated mentors. We consulted with educators, students, and community leaders to form a unique mentoring experience. Our 1st cohort included 25 mentoring pairs. To date we have served over 250 students and trained over 200 mentors.
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Who we servePrimos Dallas serves 1st generation high school and college students who live in Pleasant Grove. Pleasant Grove is a neighborhood in southeast Dallas that includes zip codes 75217 and 75227. Over 60% of Primos students live in these zip codes and attend both Dallas ISD high schools and universities across the country.
Founder, Alicia Serrato, was raised in Pleasant Grove and knows first-hand about the challenges this Southeast Dallas neighborhood presents. Less than 3% of people in Pleasant Grove hold a bachelor’s degree. This area also has a high poverty rate of 28% and a median household income of $23,086. The Primos program is tailored to draw students from the Latino, immigrant, and 1st generation community. |
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Our Current Primos Cohort
For the 24-25 academic school year, Primos has 83 mentoring pairs. Our pairs consist of high school and college students primarily from the Pleasant Grove area, but also includes students from Mesquite, Irving, and other neighborhoods across Dallas. The Primos mentoring program is tailored to draw students from the Latinx community specifically first-generation Americans, students who will be the first to graduate High School or first to enter college, economically disadvantaged families, and immigrant families. Our mentors are a vibrant young group with similar experiences to our students.
Our Impact
Total Students MentoredSince 2018, we have mentored 240 students. Each year about 60% of our mentors and mentees return for additional years.
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High School Graduation RatesGiven the challenging statistics of Pleasant Grove and Dallas as a whole, we are very proud that 100% of Primos students graduate high school
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College Acceptance RatesAdditionally, 100% of Primos students are accepted to a college or university. Of our current cohort of 83 students, 22 are attending colleges and universities across the country.
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Primos Graduates
The below map indicates the universities Primos students attend. These students have been a part of the Primos mentoring program for at least one year and we continue to support them from afar.
