I'm extremely pleased to have joined LA's Promise at a critical time. I'm equally pleased to have gained the opportunity to work closely with our principals, teachers, parents, students, community partners, and the LA's Promise team to fulfill our organization's important mission: to radically shift the education, health and social outcomes for thousands of youth in our LA's Promise community in South Los Angeles.

I firmly believe we can realize LA's Promise's full potential as an agent of positive change in education and health for the young people we teach at John Muir, West Adams Prep and Manual Arts.

No one said this task would be easy. You've put in some hard work and we have some successes to show for it. But we have a lot more hard work ahead of us. We have more successes to demonstrate before any of us can be satisfied that we have given this task our best efforts for the children and teens who are looking to us to provide them with a real springboard to a bright future.

I am a big believer in structure and organization. My past executive experiences have given me keen insights into organizational dynamics: how people work and how people produce their best work on a consistent basis and sustained level.

In the coming weeks, I will be giving focused attention to the operations of LA's Promise. I will be examining ways for all of us to improve our partnerships with our schools and community groups to best deliver services to our organization's most important clients: the parents and students of our LA's Promise community in South Los Angeles.

I'm also a big believer in regularly assessing our progress to strengthen what works and changing what doesn't produce the results we expect. We need to rely on our experience coupled with data without falling into the trap of doing things the way we've always done them. Through all of our work, we must remain focused on the good that change can bring and the positive energy that change can help generate.

The eyes of the people of Los Angeles are on us in our efforts, as well as the eyes of millions more persons across the country. There is great hope among our observers that we succeed in our mission.

I'm here to say emphatically that we cannot fail and we will not fail to fulfill our organization's mission. The stakes are too high for our students and their future to allow us to do anything other than to succeed at a high level. We will be judged by our work and our job is to produce high-achieving and healthy students at John Muir, West Adams Prep and Manual Arts.

I can't guarantee LA's Promise's future success by myself. I'm here to lead a team effort, not play "Lone Ranger."

I'm counting on each and every one of you. So too are our community, health and education partners.

Today, LA's Promise recommits to its mission to improve our schools and empower our neighborhoods.

As President and CEO of LA's Promise, I promise you that my door is open. I welcome your ideas and encourage your suggestions for change.

Veronica Melvin