Blog

Every month, America Forward is highlighting a few examples of the vital work being done by our Coalition members to support students, families, educators, workers, elected leaders, advocates, and communities across the country. If your organization has resources, an announcement, or a story that you would like to see included, please send it to america_forward@newprofit.org.

Tech Goes Home

Tech Goes Home (TGH) recently received $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, to support their critical efforts to expand digital equity in Boston. The new funding will both bolster TGH’s existing work and allow the organization to partner with over 100 new community organizations across the city, working together to close the digital divide. Earlier this year, TGH’s Chief Advocacy Officer, Marvin Venay, also testified in front of the Boston City Council on the importance of funding digital inclusion initiatives in COVID-19 recovery efforts.

College Advising Corps

College Advising Corps (CAC) is committed to expanding higher education access and increasing completion rates for low-income, first-generation college, and underrepresented students through mentorship and advising opportunities. To this end, they offer a Virtual Advising Guide, including “strategies and effective practices in virtual college advising cultivated through College Advising Corps’ (CAC) virtual advising programs and partnerships,” to support students everywhere.

Encore.org

Encore.org works to bridge generational divides and bring older and younger people together to drive social change. To support these efforts, their research library provides a range of resources for their community, including key studies, reports and research findings emphasizing the importance of breaking down barriers between generations and engaging people of all ages in the work to tackle our most pressing challenges.

Children’s Aid

This month, Children’s Aid announced an award of $50,000, from the Bayer Foundation to support essential efforts to address and combat food insecurity facing children and families. The funding will support the organization’s Go!Chefs program, which aims to “provide hands-on, cooking-based nutrition education for students K-12,” as well as expand their food box program, which have “been a vital resource to families in need during the pandemic and continue to be essential during the city’s recovery.”

ImBlaze by Big Picture Learning

Internships and experiential learning can be instrumental in fostering both educational and professional growth for young people. To help students more easily access internship opportunities, ImBlaze provides a platform “that enables schools to curate a set of internships for students to request to pursue.” To make the platform as easy to use as possible, ImBlaze also offers a comprehensive FAQ page for the schools, advisors, parents, students, and mentors in their community.