About
ALMA Youth Programs (Aspire, Learn, Mentor and Achieve) include the ALMA Science Academy, Middle School Program, High School Program, and a 4-week ALMA Summer Academy. The programs feature activities such as exposing 4th and 5th graders to STEM concepts, high school level experiments involving chemistry, biology, technology, and engineering, and STEM applications to the environment and community. Participants also take part in Wellness Wednesday health-oriented educational workshops, community organized clean ups, tree planting, and other beautification measures.
• Ages: 9–18 years old
• Schedule: School-year programs meet on Saturdays, with ALMA Science Academy and the Middle School Program meeting from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and the High School Program meeting from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM; ALMA Summer Academy runs as a 4-week summer program
The Elementary Science Academy within ALMA Youth Programs is only available for students from Madison, Kennedy, and Roosevelt Walker elementary schools. ALMA emphasizes a mentorship pipeline by selecting mentors from STEM undergraduates and graduate students from UC Irvine and UCLA, and UCI medical students from the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC). The ALMA program and Middle School Program run at the same time from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and it is recommended that mentors commit to one program.
ALMA Youth Programs are part of the work of GREEN-MPNA, which is dedicated to advancing policy and systems change that supports environmental justice as a key public health issue through leadership development, ongoing programs, and partnerships in Orange County. GREEN-MPNA partners with Santa Ana residents to lead programs and initiatives that improve health, equity, and the local environment, including STEM youth programs like the Francisco Zaldivar Aspire, Learn, Mentor and Achieve Science Academy (ALMA) and Wellness Wednesday workshops. Residents have organized community clean ups, tree planting, beautification measures around the Santa Ana Bike Trail, and the annual Madison Park Walk-A-Thon and Resource Fair, and GREEN-MPNA has developed partnerships with the City of Santa Ana, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles, and California State Fullerton. Madison Park Neighborhood Association has served community members in Southeast Santa Ana since 1987, and residents founded GREEN in 2011, which later became Getting Residents Engaged in Empowering Neighborhoods in 2017.
The ALMA program is based on best practices that better prepare students from Santa Ana for academic success and growing opportunities in STEM careers and higher education. ALMA Science Academy focuses on exposing 4th and 5th graders to STEM concepts, the Middle School Program prepares 6th–8th graders for high school level experiments in chemistry, biology, technology, and engineering, and the High School Program prepares 9th–12th graders for college access, skill building, and academic preparedness. ALMA Summer Academy is a 4-week summer program focusing on STEM application to the environment and community, and ALMA encourages lifelong learning of the sciences and promotes a high priority on academic achievement and continuation into higher education. ALMA’s facilitated mentorship approach connects students’ funds of knowledge to practice-based environmental and public health STEM education while showcasing diverse career pathways through academic and organizational partners, and its curriculum uses active learning through scaled activities connected to localized health needs and the community’s lived expertise.
ALMA Youth Programs are led in part by Dr. Frank Zaldivar, Director of ALMA Science Academy, and Erika Ramirez-Mayoral, Ph.D., GREEN-MPNA Executive Director. A UCI collaborator and consultant describes GREEN’s history and story as rooted in local community members with deep roots and knowledge of the transformation of both the place and the people. Mentors in the ALMA Science Academy report that being mentors pushes them to be better students and role models, helps them feel more connected to the community and the Latinx community, and reaffirms decisions to pursue STEM careers that include teaching and mentorship, and they describe that “these kids light up every time you teach them something new.” Dr. Frank Zaldivar notes that the program teaches children how to communicate with a circuit and with each other as a team, and a parent of an ALMA Science Academy scholar shares that the experience has been very beneficial and valuable because their children have learned important things that will help them grow in their future and have shown many changes and increased intelligence that have opened their minds to a better future.
Last updated July 31, 2026.
• Ages: 9–18 years old
• Schedule: School-year programs meet on Saturdays, with ALMA Science Academy and the Middle School Program meeting from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and the High School Program meeting from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM; ALMA Summer Academy runs as a 4-week summer program
The Elementary Science Academy within ALMA Youth Programs is only available for students from Madison, Kennedy, and Roosevelt Walker elementary schools. ALMA emphasizes a mentorship pipeline by selecting mentors from STEM undergraduates and graduate students from UC Irvine and UCLA, and UCI medical students from the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC). The ALMA program and Middle School Program run at the same time from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and it is recommended that mentors commit to one program.
ALMA Youth Programs are part of the work of GREEN-MPNA, which is dedicated to advancing policy and systems change that supports environmental justice as a key public health issue through leadership development, ongoing programs, and partnerships in Orange County. GREEN-MPNA partners with Santa Ana residents to lead programs and initiatives that improve health, equity, and the local environment, including STEM youth programs like the Francisco Zaldivar Aspire, Learn, Mentor and Achieve Science Academy (ALMA) and Wellness Wednesday workshops. Residents have organized community clean ups, tree planting, beautification measures around the Santa Ana Bike Trail, and the annual Madison Park Walk-A-Thon and Resource Fair, and GREEN-MPNA has developed partnerships with the City of Santa Ana, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles, and California State Fullerton. Madison Park Neighborhood Association has served community members in Southeast Santa Ana since 1987, and residents founded GREEN in 2011, which later became Getting Residents Engaged in Empowering Neighborhoods in 2017.
The ALMA program is based on best practices that better prepare students from Santa Ana for academic success and growing opportunities in STEM careers and higher education. ALMA Science Academy focuses on exposing 4th and 5th graders to STEM concepts, the Middle School Program prepares 6th–8th graders for high school level experiments in chemistry, biology, technology, and engineering, and the High School Program prepares 9th–12th graders for college access, skill building, and academic preparedness. ALMA Summer Academy is a 4-week summer program focusing on STEM application to the environment and community, and ALMA encourages lifelong learning of the sciences and promotes a high priority on academic achievement and continuation into higher education. ALMA’s facilitated mentorship approach connects students’ funds of knowledge to practice-based environmental and public health STEM education while showcasing diverse career pathways through academic and organizational partners, and its curriculum uses active learning through scaled activities connected to localized health needs and the community’s lived expertise.
ALMA Youth Programs are led in part by Dr. Frank Zaldivar, Director of ALMA Science Academy, and Erika Ramirez-Mayoral, Ph.D., GREEN-MPNA Executive Director. A UCI collaborator and consultant describes GREEN’s history and story as rooted in local community members with deep roots and knowledge of the transformation of both the place and the people. Mentors in the ALMA Science Academy report that being mentors pushes them to be better students and role models, helps them feel more connected to the community and the Latinx community, and reaffirms decisions to pursue STEM careers that include teaching and mentorship, and they describe that “these kids light up every time you teach them something new.” Dr. Frank Zaldivar notes that the program teaches children how to communicate with a circuit and with each other as a team, and a parent of an ALMA Science Academy scholar shares that the experience has been very beneficial and valuable because their children have learned important things that will help them grow in their future and have shown many changes and increased intelligence that have opened their minds to a better future.
Last updated July 31, 2026.
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