Today there are 15.1 million U.S. youth not involved in after-school programs. Of these students, boys are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime and girls are 50% more likely to have a child. 1.2 million high school students fail to graduate every year. 95% of students participating in buildOn both graduate and go on to college. Make a donation to my campaign and help to break this cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education! Thank you for your support!

buildOn?s youth service programs engage high school students in challenging urban areas and show them the limitless power they can achieve through serving their community. Youth contribute intensive local service ? helping the homeless, seniors and children in their communities ? to confront urban struggles with passion and optimism. Our students don?t want to escape their inner-city environments but lift them up, and elevate the expectations they have for their neighborhoods and themselves. buildOn Afterschool is actively inspiring leaders who believe that service will change the world.

Every year, select students and teachers from each afterschool program help construct a school in a remote village with buildOn. Many of the students who participate have never been outside of their neighborhoods before journeying to the mountains of Nepal, or the drought stricken fields of Mali, or the earthquake ravaged landscape of Haiti, or the rainforests of Nicaragua. During the trip, they live with a host family and experience the simplicity and roughness of life in a developing nation without resources like running water or electricity. They mix concrete, make bricks and form walls by hand alongside villagers, immersing themselves in the difficult labor of construction. Many are inspired by the beauty, resilience, and passion for education of the people they encounter abroad. Being welcomed into a community thousands of miles from their own inner-city & into the home of a village family changes the way our students see the world, and themselves. They return to their own schools understanding the value of their own academic opportunities and the importance of community outreach.

Thank you for your support!