Goddess Innis is counting the days until she takes the LSAT in June, the comprehension, logic and reasoning test that determines whether she can move forward in her desire to become a lawyer.

There aren’t enough fingers yet, but as the days tick by, the legal studies junior at the University of Southern California is building confidence and knowledge in her ability to perform well.

She began honing those skills several years ago, when as a Harrison High School freshman she was accepted into the Elevated Program of the Colorado Springs-based Sachs Foundation.

“There’s no other program that’s helped me as much. If it wasn’t for Elevated, I wouldn’t have volunteer experience or internship experience or work experience,” she said Monday by phone while taking a break from studying.

Innis also received a full-ride scholarship toward earning an undergraduate degree and money for items such as rent and braces. Financially, Innis said her family didn’t have the means to send her to college to realize her childhood dream of one day standing in a court room arguing a case.

Her involvement with the Sachs Foundation, a private family foundation which since 1931 has provided scholarships, grants and programs to “help Black Coloradans overcome systemic inequity,” means she’s already achieved part of that lifelong dream.

Innis knows in her heart she’ll be good at judicial work.

“I like looking through people’s complaints; I love being a problem-solver, and law is very technical,” she said. “All of that just sounds fun to me.”

The Sachs Foundation’s Elevated Program for Black teens in grades 8-12 started in Colorado Springs about 15 years ago with one cohort of 16 students, said CEO Ben Ralston.

This academic year the program has grown to 12 cohorts of 16 students – three of which are in the Denver area and nine in Colorado Springs. In the fall, there will be 13 cohorts.

The Elevated Program has become so popular, high demand has led the foundation to temporarily stop adding students to its waiting list, which Ralston said is about 25 deep. When growth matches demand, the list will reopen.

Scholars come from different schools but together are mentored, coached and encouraged. Like Innis, all show a drive to go places and do special things with their lives.

“Our mentoring program doesn’t change the student. It doesn’t turn them into something that has potential; it allows them to follow whatever path they want and opens doors for them,” Ralston said. “I know they’d find ways to be successful no matter what. It just might look different when they have support structures and guidance to get to their end goals.”

The Elevated Program was revamped five years ago, bringing adult mentors in-house to advise students on educational and personal growth. Mentors also accompany students on college campus visits and lead various social and cultural events and volunteer projects.

Promis Bruno, dean of restorative practices in Harrison School District 2, has been a mentor for seven years. Her own career path from school social worker to district administrator inspired Bruno to teach Black students how they can nurture their talents.

“Representation matters as a Black woman in education,” she said. “I have a passion in truly wanting to give back and support our youth. When I think about the path to higher education, the college visits and overnight stays of this program are something I wish I had growing up to steer my way.”

Whether in-state universities or Historically Black Colleges and Universities, such as Spelman College, Morehouse College or Tuskegee University, students experience an-depth immersion at each campus.

Instead of taking a quick tour, Bruno said Elevated scholars get to know the culture and community of a school and talk with current students to get a feel for the environment. And every aspect of transportation, lodging and meals is paid for by the Sachs Foundation.

“We’ve had different iterations of mentoring,” Ralston said.  “We know mentoring works across all communities, and particularly in the Black community, where there’s a lot of community identity.”

The foundation spends more than $1 million annually on the Elevated Program, he said, with about 15% of that helping families at home with food, health care, housing, transportation and other household strains.

In addition, students receive money for extra curricular activities, summer camps, study abroad programs, technology, college readiness and preparatory counseling, mental  health counseling and other needs.

The end game is for students to “know they have a lot of options post-secondary and beyond, and they can have higher income potential through education,” Ralston said.

Students take the opportunity seriously, he said. For the past five years, participants have logged a 100% high school graduation rate.

In a few weeks, the foundation will announce 65 recipients of $2.3 million in college undergraduate and graduate studies scholarships. About 15% are from El Paso County, matching the county’s demographics of Black residents. That’s up from $1.9 million awarded last year to 53 Black scholars.

Ralston said the work is as relevant as it was 95 years ago, when the late Pikes Peak resident Henry Sachs founded the foundation. With a current endowment of $35 million, the foundation’s focus hasn’t changed.

“Erasing the racial wealth gap is a huge mission now and then,” Ralston said.

Despite laws enacted during the Civil Rights Movement, noticeable gaps in wages and homeownership rates continue to be a challenge for the Black population, he said.

Amid federal policy changes and funding cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the Sachs Foundation has made operational changes.

An inaugural alumni board formed last year for discretionary grantmaking. It’s a move away from top-down philanthropy and toward putting decision-making about grants for Black people in the hands of Black people who have received such funding in the past, Ralston said.

Also last year, the foundation awarded its first round of new equity grants. Nine nonprofits around the state collectively received $115,000 to advance equity, opportunity and well-being for Black communities. Ralston is anticipating a distribution of $125,000 to $150,000 this year.

And the foundation hired its first-ever fellow in March, poet and author Clint Smith, who through his writings explores racial inequity for Black Americans.

“This work is ongoing and is very much needed,” Ralston said. “No matter what the rhetoric is, we need to address these systems that were put in place.”