High-achieving students with low-income backgrounds don’t often receive leadership opportunities within their communities. Empower is a small organization that seeks to provide leadership platforms for high school students to create long-term projects and solutions that are relevant for their communities.
After working in low-income schools all over California’s San Francisco Bay Area, Jennifer Tschetter, a Teach For America team member, decided to start Empower with her good friend Max Ross, board member for the International Model United Nations Association. Empower plans to give students the resources to create solutions to various problems through a project of their choice. Fellows are required to maintain a certain GPA, and commit themselves to long-term projects.
The Intelligent Optimist: How did you come up with the idea for Empower?
Jennifer Tschetter: “We believe in the potential and strength of all people—in particular kids and youth. Empower stemmed from wanting a way to make sure children had the platform to make changes in her own community. With Empower, all children will have the potential to make change.”
TIO: How have you personally noticed the need for a program like Empower?
JT: “There are many programs available for students to access leadership opportunities, but they are costly and geared towards students of middle to upper class backgrounds. Even when scholarships are provided to these students the programming is not necessarily culturally relevant towards students from varying backgrounds. These programs are necessary and wonderful, but do not really provide students with the opportunity to make changes in their communities.”
TIO: Will Empower focus more on low-income students or minorities?
JT: “The correlation between low-income and minority kids is astounding, especially in a city like San Francisco where racial divides are exacerbated by income levels. Our focus will be on children of color in low-income areas.”
Empower has only gathered funds from private donors up until this point. Empower is reaching out for public support to help kick-start their initiative and get fellows into training.
Find out more or donate to Empower