Shavona learned about Boys Hope Girls Hope when she was 14 years old. Her family had hit a rough patch, she wasn’t able to sleep, and her grades had declined. Shavona became very interested after hearing about the program from two girls at her middle school. Learning that the cut-off age to enter the program […]
Malique Williams grew up in Long Island as the eldest of three siblings. Much of his childhood was spent running, and Malique became a regional track and field star as he progressed in school. He describes his first year of high school as “crazy,” as it was during a time when his parents went through […]
Ericka joined Esperanza Juvenil, Boys Hope Girls Hope’s Guatemalan affiliate, after finishing the 6th grade. Her family didn’t have the resources for Ericka to continue studying, a common challenge for families in Guatemala. She learned about Esperanza Juvenil through a partner organization that supports pre-school and elementary school children in a very economically challenged neighborhood […]
Andy’s life changed dramatically one day, when the police knocked on the door, looking for someone else and realized his father was an undocumented worker. A week later, Andy’s father was taken into custody, held in a detention center for eight months and then deported to Mexico. Andy’s life was thrown into chaos as he […]
“Boys Hope Girls Hope influences every decision I make today.” Micarah Young graduated at the top of her class with a degree in nursing from Georgia State University this month. In July, she’ll start her career as an Intensive Care Unit nurse at WellStar Atlanta Medical Center in Atlanta’s inner-city in the midst of the […]
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Each year, we are inspired and humbled by those, who with the partnership of Boys Hope Girls Hope, achieve a dream and continue to set new goals. We don’t try to take credit for our scholars’ successes. We’re just grateful to say Boys Hope Girls Hope is a part of their lifetime journeys. Daniel Braswell, […]
“I was in 6th grade when I was faced with a choice. So far, I had been blessed, through scholarship, to get a private school education where I was challenged academically and spiritually. However, circumstances changed, and my family and I realized we would no longer be able to afford my school’s tuition, and that […]
“I was a kid who started in Cabrini-Green, one of the most dangerous and notorious public housing authorities. Boys Hope Girls Hope was a safe haven for me to receive a full-ride scholarship to college and earn a leadership role at a Fortune 500 company—all at the age of 26. None of it would have […]
In 2002, the summer before her senior year, Jiarra Jackson joined the Boys Hope Girls Hope program in New Orleans. It was the first year the program had a Girls Hope home. Her mother had passed by the time Jiarra was in the ninth grade, and her father was ill. He passed a month after […]
Jay F. joined Boys Hope Girls Hope of Northeastern Ohio at the age of twelve. Enrolled at St. Ignatius High, he became the school’s first African-American member of the debate team and went to the state championships as a first-year debater. During his second year, he was one of the top 20 debaters in the […]
“As I start my first year of Fordham Law School, I look back at the experiences that brought me this far, and hands down the most important one has been my time as a Boys Hope Girls Hope scholar. Boys Hope Girls Hope provided me with so many opportunities that my family and I would […]
Demi joined Boys Hope Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans in the sixth grade. Her brother, Nick, had graduated from the program and was urging Demi to apply. “The Girls Hope home opened when Nick graduated, and he felt like it would be a good fit. At first, I said no, but after a couple […]
Boys Hope Girls Hope of San Francisco Bay alumnus, Perry Im, joined the program as a residential scholar in sixth grade. The youngest of seven children, none of his older siblings had graduated high school. “I had different plans. I wanted to go to college,” Perry revealed. However, given his family’s history, he focused his […]
I grew up in St. Louis, MO, with my younger brother. We lived with our parents until I was three and my brother was one. Then, our parents divorced, and we moved in with our grandparents, who raised us. When I was five, my mother went into her first of eight nursing homes, where she […]
I suppose my story begins as so many of ours do, from a broken home. I was the second to last of six siblings and my parents divorced when I was very young. I can’t even remember them being married. As I got older, I came to realize that my siblings and I became just […]
I came to Boys Hope during my sophomore year at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. I come from a broken home. My father left when I was 2 and I never saw him again. My mother fell into depression and substance dependency. Because of the struggles she faced, I became an outlet for […]
I spent most of my childhood bouncing between my parents from Chicago, IL. to Los Angeles, CA. and back again. My life was very unstable, and hectic. Both of my parents tried to do their best, but both were emotionally unstable, and I was forced into a parental role early in my youth. When Boys […]
There was no question whether or not Daniel Braswell would go to college. His determination and his intelligence made it a foregone conclusion. However, his chaotic home life made pursuing academics a difficult challenge. “I entered Boys Hope Girls Hope of Cincinnati’s residential program in 2009, and academics became my top and only priority,” he […]
Twenty-two year-old Brenda was born in Sayaxche, Peten in Guatemala. When she was five, Brenda moved with her parents and five siblings to Los Reyes, San Andres, Peten, located far from her extended family in Sayaxche. Los Reyes was a very small, isolated town, and the only transportation to and from it was one bus […]