Share Your Love Foundation’s Youth Program Awarded A Grant By The Foundation Trust

The Share Your Love Foundation recently received a $3,000 grant from the Foundation Trust to support a new SAT prep course for high school students in its youth program. The Inspire Aspire Youth Program (IAYP) helps Portuguese-speaking teens and their parents navigate a post-secondary education with the goal of improving their lives through education.

College enrollment for Portuguese-speaking students is low, in part due to immigrant families not understanding the higher education process and the availability of existing support networks. The importance of informing this population about the American educational system and the options available to them to succeed is crucial for their social development. Misinformation contributes to the notion that future generations have to follow their parents into their professions, creating a vicious cycle where youth are stagnant and stymied from full immersion into American society.

In an effort to address these barriers, 19 rising juniors and seniors from Revere, Everett and Somerville had the opportunity to attend the Inspire Aspire Youth Program’s SAT prep classes this summer thanks to the support of Foundation Trust. The goal was to expose students to test-taking strategies that would increase their comfort with the exam. 80% of participating students reported that the course increased their confidence about taking the SAT exam.

Debora Guimaraes, Founder and President of Share Your Love Foundation said “I am delighted that the first formal support of this program comes from the Foundation Trust. With their assistance, our first-generation Americans and inner-city teenagers had the chance to learn from highly-qualified teachers and be more prepared for the SAT test. It was a great experience and as a result I believe that our students will be better prepared for the college application process.”

 â€œShare Your Love is positively shaping the lives of the students it reaches.,” noted Lauren Liecau, Manager of Outreach and Development at the Foundation Trust. “The Foundation Trust is proud to support their new SAT prep program to give first-generation Americans in Revere access to tools for academic, personal and professional development.”

The Foundation Trust is a private philanthropic foundation serving Greater Boston. In supporting the important work of small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations, the Foundation Trust enhances individual wellbeing and community development. To learn more, visit www.FoundationTrust.org.

IAYP educates, motivates and offers life-changing tools to help teens and their parents develop a positive path and increase participation in volunteer activities throughout Massachusetts. To learn more about the program, visit our website www.shareyourlovefoundation.org  or send an email to [email protected].