Changing lives one scholarship at a time

I recently completed an activity in which I planned for 2025 by auditing my 2024. This included asking myself a series of questions about the year’s highlights and what I would do more of in my role as the Into Employment® lead for Global Philanthropy and Marketing at Children International. My responses flowed easily because I’m so grateful to support this organization’s mission and know that with each young person we help, future generations are transformed.    

Before joining Children International, I spent almost 20 years serving in the higher education industry. It was always rewarding seeing students, faculty, staff and employers work toward critical milestones such as recruiting students and celebrating admission, class projects, career fairs and graduation. Several years before my departure, I worked with university donors and partners and aligned the university’s efforts with their goal of helping more students reach these milestones. Now, my work at Children International focuses on collaborating with my colleagues and our generous donors in our quest to grow Children International’s signature workforce development initiative, Into Employment. This program transforms one life at a time, giving our youth the opportunity to gain an education, training, on-the-job coaching and placement support that ultimately results in sustainable employment. 

In thinking about my 2024, one of the moments I am so grateful for was meeting one of the Into Employment participants during a staff trip to Colombia. Jessica, a young woman who is studying to be a pharmacy technician, told me that when she was 10 years old, her mother didn’t receive the health care and medications that could have saved her life, and she died. That devastating loss led Jessica, now a single mother who cares for her grandmother, to seek employment in the health care field. I listened as Jessica shared how grateful she is to the Children International team in Colombia, who bring Into Employment to life, and to our donors who provide the scholarships that make these opportunities possible. 

As Jessica and I connected, I looked around the room at the dozens of youth who joined us that day — young people studying business, nursing, human resources, cosmetology and other careers — knowing each one of them has a unique story of resilience and hard work to overcome the challenges that come with poverty. When I asked them what they would want to share with Children International supporters, the answer was (and is always) the same: thankfulness and a request to please keep helping the many young people who are ready to study, learn and work hard.

As the mother of one of our participants in Ecuador once told me, the support that comes from being an Into Employment participant is “beyond a scholarship.” What youth gain literally transforms the course of their lives. Children International teams walk alongside young adults for all the milestones — connecting them to the many careers that are possible, helping them apply for and join the right training program, and supporting them throughout their training with the coaching all young people need. We then connect them to employers at career fairs, all to arrive at the best part — graduation and finding that job!

Just a few days before the end of 2024, I received a picture of Jessica holding her diploma. She did it. She graduated! This is what transformation looks like. Jessica started with us as a young girl living in poverty and worked hard in our programs throughout her childhood to emerge as an empowered, healthy and educated young woman with the confidence and skills that will help her keep moving up in the workforce. Her daughter will be able to have a very different life than she had. Poverty ends here.

Jessica graduated from Incatec, one of Children International's educational partners in Colombia, in December 2024. Photo by Patricia Calderon Ospino.

My 2024 audit resulted in two Children International highlights:

1. Seeing pictures of Jessica, who is proud of achieving this milestone.
2. Having conversations with our generous donors and hearing them say, “Wow! We could help make this happen!”

What will I do more of in 2025? There is much to do! This year, we have more than 10,000 young people across the globe eager to complete their education, join the workforce and change their lives. We have staff members working every single day to coach youth enrolled in Into Employment, to find more partners to train and employ them, and to innovate ways to improve our programs within each country and community. 

If you have a goal this year to make the world better and to change lives, give to Into Employment. Our youth are waiting, and the impact of giving someone the gift of an education and a career is immense. It ends the cycle of poverty.