Always Do Good: Impact Spotlight
The 2022 commencement address for Liberty High School seniors mirrors the iconic moment on The Oprah Winfrey Show when Oprah did a new car giveaway for the entire audience. However, instead of getting cars, these students received a gift with mileage that will outlast any vehicle. At the end of Chau Nguyen’s Class of 2022 commencement speech, she announced that an anonymous donor pledged to cover college tuition and textbooks for Liberty High School’s most recent graduates as they pursue their higher education goals. Greater Houston Community Foundation is pleased to help facilitate this generous and transformative scholarship for these students, and there is much more to this impactful story.
We sat down with this donor, who will remain anonymous to keep the focus on the greater impact, to learn more about their philanthropic approach. It all started with the question, “what could we do to really impact these kids?” Knowing that Liberty High School is one of the only schools in Texas that offers high school programming for newly arrived immigrant students – many of whom balance full-time work and family responsibilities – this donor wanted to do something that could transform their post-high school trajectories and open educational opportunities they otherwise would not have had. Liberty High School serves students who face daily obstacles in their lives, often balancing full-time work while simultaneously adapting to a new country, city, and school system. Often these students have just reconnected with family they have been separated from or are working to send money back to the family that still lives in their home country. This donor’s primary focus is to remove as many barriers as possible for these students as they pursue career paths and educations that will help them move ahead and create fulfilling futures for themselves and their families in our country.
While embarking on the journey to ignite positive change for the Liberty High students and launching the Always Do Good Scholarship Fund, our donor met another community leader, Marvin Pierre, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Eight Million Stories. Eight Million Stories is a local nonprofit that works to transform the lives of disconnected and vulnerable youth (12-21 years old) through education, skills training, employment, and authentic relationships.
The work they do is focused on reducing Houston’s school-to-prison pipeline. Eight Million Stories works with youth who have been pushed out of the school system through zero-tolerance policies and in-school policing. These students lack support, and Eight Million Stories is there to help them re-enter society. For this group of students, similar to those at Liberty, education after high school or a GED is often totally inaccessible. After speaking with Pierre and getting to know more about the aspirations of the students in the program, it became clear that those students would also benefit from being included in the newly launched Always Do Good Scholarship Fund.
This brings us to today, where in partnership with the generosity of this donor, Greater Houston Community Foundation manages the Always Do Good Scholarship. The name is straightforward, a joyful reminder to always pay it forward. A reminder that if we listen to understand the needs and aspirations of those around us, we all can find ways to dedicate our time, talents, and treasures to move the needle for the community we love.
More Helpful Articles by Greater Houston Community Foundation:
- Empowering Futures: The Collective Impact of Grantmaking on Houston’s Unhoused Youth
- How to Start a Scholarship Fund
- Celebrating the Ultimate Boy Mom
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