Always Do Good

The 2022 commencement address for Liberty High School seniors mirrors the iconic moment on The Oprah Winfrey Show when Oprah did a new car giveaway for the entire audience. However, instead of getting cars, these students received a gift with mileage that will outlast any vehicle. At the end of Chau Nguyen’s Class of 2022 commencement speech, she announced that an anonymous donor pledged to cover college tuition and textbooks for Liberty High School’s most recent graduates as they pursue their higher education goals. Greater Houston Community Foundation is pleased to help facilitate this generous and transformative scholarship for these students, and there is much more to this impactful story.

We sat down with this donor, who will remain anonymous to keep the focus on the greater impact, to learn more about their philanthropic approach. It all started with the question, “what could we do to really impact these kids?” Knowing that Liberty High School is one of the only schools in Texas that offers high school programming for newly arrived immigrant students – many of whom balance fulltime work and family responsibilities – this donor wanted to do something that could transform their post-high school trajectories and open educational opportunities they otherwise would not have had. Liberty High School serves students who face daily obstacles in their lives, often balancing full-time work while simultaneously adapting to a new country, city, and school system. Often these students have just reconnected with family they have been separated from or are working to send money back to the family that still lives in their home country. This donor’s primary focus is to remove as many barriers as possible for these students as they pursue career paths and educations that will help them move ahead and create fulfilling futures for themselves and their families in our country.

Our students typically do not know to what extent they can feasibly continue taking courses after high school. With many of our students being new to the country and not yet having a social security number, they do not qualify for typical financial aid programs like FASFA. Financial support like this [Always Do Good Scholarship] really makes a difference in how our students see a pathway beyond high school. In a typical year, about 80% of our graduating students apply to college, and only about 30% enroll. This year, because of this donation, about 60% of the class of 2022 will enroll in college.

– MONICO RIVAS, Principal at Liberty High School

2022 Always Do Good Fund Impact

IMPACT

The Always Do Good Scholarship awarded over $35,000 to 15 students from Liberty High School and two students from Eight Million Stories in 2022.

Award Amounts

The awards cover full tuition, fees, and books or other required equipment.

Frequency

The fund will cover all fees for the first full academic year as long as the student maintains a 2.0. There is a course load requirement of six credit hours, which can include ESL intensive English classes if needed.

More To Come

Additional graduates who were not enrolled in the fall are also eligible to apply for funding for spring 2023.

While embarking on the journey to ignite positive change for the Liberty High students and launching the Always Do Good Scholarship Fund, our donor met another community leader, Marvin Pierre, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Eight Million Stories. Eight Million Stories is a local nonprofit that works to transform the lives of disconnected and vulnerable youth (12-21 years old) through education, skills training, employment, and authentic relationships. The work they do is focused on reducing Houston’s school-to-prison pipeline. Eight Million Stories works with youth who have been pushed out of the school system through zero-tolerance policies and in-school policing. These students lack support, and Eight Million Stories is there to help them re-enter society. For this group of students, similar to those at Liberty, education after high school or a GED is often totally inaccessible. After speaking with Pierre and getting to know more about the aspirations of the students in the program, it became clear that those students would also benefit from being included in the newly launched Always Do Good Scholarship Fund.

The Always Do Good Scholarship opportunity has reaffirmed for our students that despite experiencing challenging life circumstances, including living in poverty, they can remain optimistic about their futures and still achieve their goals in life. The scholarship has helped shift the mindsets of our students from ‘not for me’ to ‘why not me?’ We are showing how the potential of our most vulnerable young adults can be fulfilled if given a chance.

– MARVIN PIERRE Executive Director at Eight Million Stories

This brings us to today, where in partnership with the generosity of this donor, Greater Houston Community Foundation manages the Always Do Good Scholarship. The name is straightforward, a joyful reminder to always pay it forward. A reminder that if we listen to understand the needs and aspirations of those around us, we all can find ways to dedicate our time, talents, and treasures to move the needle for the community we love.