Raising A Village Foundation

In 2023, Raising A Village was named a supporting education champion by the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS); an initiative founded by the Biden/Harris administration to close the learning divide caused by the global pandemic. As a part of this initiative, RAVF photos of the D2S program in action have been featured on the NPSS website and social media platforms. Also, RAVF Directors have been able to share invaluable information with the NPSS coalition about our “boots on the ground” strategy for supporting student success! For more information about NPSS and its initiatives, log on to National Partnership for Student Success.

Due to RAVF’s stellar work in the community, our media presence has grown exponentially over the last fiscal year garnering over one million unique media impressions on local radio, newspaper, television, and social media platforms. We would like to acknowledge the following media partners for their support and coverage of the tireless strides that our team continues to make in underserved communities every day!

NBC News4 Washington
Street Sense Media | Street Sense Media
The Eagle Newspaper | American University
The Hilltop Newspaper | Howard University
The Tower Newspaper | The Catholic University of America
WHUR 96.3 FM WHUR 96.3
WMUC 90.5 FM WMUC Radio

Thank you to our media partners for continuing to spread the word about Raising A Village Foundation and the Driven 2 Succeed Program. Together, we will continue the mission to Reach, Teach, and Inspire our next generation of leaders!

One of the major components of the Driven 2 Succeed (D2S) program is achieving positive assignment completion. Our learners and Driven Student Corps members work together to defy the odds and close the learning divide one assignment at a time. We are proud to share that our students achieved a 91.25% assignment completion rate for the 2023-2024 school year: an increase of 1.65% from the previous year. Congratulations to the D2S team for their contribution to this wonderful achievement! If you have a heart to serve students in underprivileged areas as a tutor and mentor, visit http://www.raisingavillage.org/careers to apply today!

As we continue to share highlights from our 2023-2024 program year, RAVF would like to acknowledge all of our community partners and the many partnership events that we have had the opportunity to sponsor and co-sponsor this year. From kicking off the school year by giving away over 130 bookbags as co-sponsors of the Backpack 2 School event with our friends at the NCCF - The National Center for Children and Families , to the RAVF sponsored D2S team appreciation at SPIN to finishing strong as the official sponsor of H.D. Woodson High School’s enrollment field trip at Hersheypark , where we provided transportation, park tickets and meal vouchers for 150 deserving students, we have truly enjoyed the journey! RAVF looks forward to continuing to fortify our presence in the community through partnerships that support education, health and wellness, and the arts!
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Raising A Village Foundation is looking for dedicated, motivated, compassionate professionals to join our team! We are currently accepting applications for the positions listed above. We invite you to journey along with us as we continue to Reach, Teach, and Inspire the next generation of leaders! Apply today at www.raisingavillage.org .

The stats are in and we are proud to announce that 464 students received high impact tutoring support through our Driven 2 Succeed program this school year! Thank you to our Driven Student Corps tutors, Site Coordinators, and in-school support staff for a job well done. Next up, Summer Acceleration begins this month! Summer sun = Summer fun at Raising A Village!

Raising A Village Foundation is looking for dedicated, motivated, compassionate professionals to join our team! We are currently accepting applications for the positions listed above. We invite you to journey along with us as we continue to Reach, Teach, and Inspire the next generation of leaders! Apply today at www.raisingavillage.org .

As we bring our celebration of Pride Month to a close, RAVF explores the heartfelt triumphs of transgender supermodel, writer, producer, advocate, and public speaker, Geena Rocero. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Geena is the founder of Gender Proud, a media production company that tells stories on what it means to be trans and gender non-conforming. She is the first transgender woman ambassador for Miss Universe Nepal. She is also a board member of the NY LGBT Center and the 2020 National Chair for Stonewall Day in June. In honor of the 2014 International Transgender Day of Visibility, Geena came out as transgender in an instantly viral TED Talk. Her speech has since been viewed close to five million times and has been translated into thirty-two languages. During her internet-breaking TED Talk, Rocero offered this point of understanding to convey the importance of equality for all people.

“All of us are put in boxes… Some people have the courage to break free. We can cling to our individualism all we want, but in truth we are all deeply connected to each other because on some level, we [are] each other.”

Today RAVF focuses on the life and legacy of politician and activist Harvey Milk. In 1977, Harvey won the election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and made history as the first openly gay elected official in California and the United States. His camera store and campaign headquarters quickly became centers of community activism for a wide range of human rights, environmental, labor, and neighborhood issues. During his tenure as supervisor, he helped pass a gay rights ordinance for the city of San Francisco that prohibited anti-gay discrimination in housing and employment.

Despite his short career in politics, due to his untimely assassination, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the LGBT community. In 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama and in 2014, he was honored by the United States Postal Service with a Forever Stamp.

In one of his riveting political speeches, Harvey shared this message of hope. "I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.”

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month! Raising A Village Foundation is honored to acknowledge and showcase the strides of some of this community’s most prominent leaders and activists. We kick off our celebration by highlighting the literary woks of Audre Lorde an African American poet, essayist, librarian, feminist, and equal rights activist.

Born in New York City to immigrant parents from Grenada, Audre began writing poetry in high school. After a poem she wrote was rejected for a class assignment, she submitted it to Seventeen magazine, which subsequently became her first published work. She went on to earn her BA from Hunter College and MLS from Columbia University. She served as a librarian in the New York public schools throughout the 1960s. In 1972, she began teaching as poet-in-residence at Tugaloo College. Lorde identified through her writings early on the intersections of race, class, and gender in canonical essays such as “The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House.”

A self-proclaimed “black, le***an, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.

It has been said that "a father is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow." On this day that we honor the fathers and father figures of the world, Raising A Village would like to say thank you for your leadership and commitment to helping us Reach, Teach, and Inspire the next generation of leaders. Happy Father’s Day!

Driven Student Corps (DSC) members are the heartbeat of our Driven 2 Succeed program. This week we shine the spotlight on another one of our outstanding high impact tutors, Olufemi Ogundimu. As a student at George Washington University, Olufemi enjoys math and science. He was excited to bring his enthusiasm for the subjects to the classroom at Kelly Miller Middle School. When asked about his experience as a D2S tutor, Olufemi was overjoyed to reflect on how becoming a tutor has not only proved to be a beneficial experience for the students he served, but it has also had a profound impact on his outlook as it relates to life and learning. “Becoming a tutor has given me new perspectives and experiences. I enjoyed showing students that math can be fun by sharing different ways to approach equations and problems.”

Thank you Olufemi, for the passion and integrity that you bring to our tutoring program. The confidence of our learners who were challenged in math increased greatly because of your presence! Want to join our team? Log on the www.raisingavillage.org/careers and apply today!

Raising A Village Foundation would like to acknowledge and congratulate our Founder/CEO Jaleesa Hall on the release of her first published work in The Jossey- Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management! Jaleesa, who was acknowledged by the editor as a “leading voice in the non-profit sector”, was invited to contribute to the fifth edition of the publication due to the strides she has made during her educational path at American University and her nationally acknowledged work within the non-profit sector as Founder of Raising A Village.

“When I was in graduate school, I read this textbook with reckless abandonment,” reflects Jaleesa.” Now I am a contributing author in the very same textbook! To know that it will be used in Administration & Policy programs across the country is extremely humbling and moves me to tears.”

Hardcover and digital versions of the publication can be purchased by using this https://ow.ly/3SOj50S4Xag link. Congratulations Jaleesa on another successful venture. You continue to make our Village proud!

Driven Student Corps (DSC) members serve as near-peer tutors for students who participate in the Driven 2 Succeed program. Their commitment to the success of young learners is what makes our high impact tutoring program a success! Chloe Pearlman, a student at The George Washington University served as a member of the DSC team at H.D. Woodson HS. Here is what she had to say about her experience:

"It was very fulfilling to provide academic support and structure to students and see them learn and grow. Being able to make a positive impact on their learning journey was incredibly rewarding."

Thank you, Chloe, for journeying along with us as we Reach, Teach, and Inspire the next generation of leaders! Interested in joining our amazing team? Log on the raisingavillage.org/careers and apply today!

Ladda Tammy Duckworth is an American politician and retired U.S. Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who serves as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. Born in Bangkok, Thailand, to an American father and Thai mother, Duckworth has experienced several firsts in her political career as the first Thai American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, the first person born in Thailand to be elected to the U.S. Congress, the first woman with a disability elected to U.S. Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office.

Senator Tammy Duckworth was educated at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Iraq war. In 2004, when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled gr***de fired by Iraqi insurgents, she lost both legs and some mobility in her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war. Despite her injuries, Duckworth was awarded a medical waiver to continue serving in the Illinois Army National Guard for another ten years until she retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2014. After retirement, Duckworth pivoted to pursue a career in political service. Before acquiring her current Senate seat, she represented Illinois's 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. Duckworth doesn’t take the opportunity for a second chance at life lightly and continues her crusade to support veterans through her work with the American Disabilities Act.

“I don't know why I survived Iraq, and I don't know why I made it home,” Duckworth reflected in a recent interview. “But I do know that this is my second chance at life, and I can do whatever I want now. I shouldn't even be here, so if I'm here, I better do something good.”

Raising A Village salutes Senator Tammy Duckworth for her courage, fortitude and service to our country!

Dwayne The Rock Johnson, who is of Samoan and Black Nova Scotian descent, is a worldwide icon and a movie star who first gained international fame as a WWF (now WWE ) wrestler. Known for his confident attitude and witty banter inside the ring, Johnson’s personal persona is the complete opposite. In fact, he contributes his humble demeanor to his upbringing and cultural roots. Johnson holds multiple records and has shattered several barriers as part of the professional wrestling community. He is a ten-time world champion and the first of Black and Samoan decent. Johnson also headlined WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, six times, with WrestleMania 28 being ranked as the highest grossing professional wrestling pay-per-view event of all time.

After his successful stint in wrestling, Johnson pivoted to acting, starring in films like The Scorpion King, Moana, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level, and various films within the Fast and the Furious franchise. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North America and over $10.5 billion worldwide, making Johnson one of the highest-grossing actors in Hollywood. He was also named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine in 2016 and 2019. Johnson narrated his incredible story in his 2000 autobiography, entitled “The Rock Says”, which debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Johnson lends his financial and physical support to several charities as the the National Afterschool Association spokesman, a director for The Beacon Experience, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, and the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, an organization he founded to assist in recovery and create hope in the lives of children hospitalized for various medical conditions. The Foundation has also expanded its mission to include education and child obesity prevention programs.

Raising A Village Foundation salutes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for his many contributions to the entertainment, arts, and philanthropic communities!

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Raising A Village Foundation is proud to observe the contributions of great Americans within the Asian Pacific Islander communities. We kick off this year’s celebration by paying homage to the first Indian- born American astronaut and aerospace engineer, Kalpana Chawla. On her first mission to space in 1997, Chawla flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. Tragically, Kalpana died during her second mission in space, along with six other brave crew members, when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere in February of 2003. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for her service to our country. To date, several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor. We salute Kalpana Chawla for her trailblazing efforts in the field of aerospace engineering!

As comes to a close, we want to leave you with one last fun fact on why students should volunteer in their local community. According to a 2022 article written by Cole Claybourn for US News volunteering fosters a community perspective that can help students become more well-rounded and prepared for college. Claybourn further states that volunteering allows students to be in tune with and give back to their local community.

As the school year ends and summer fun begins, we want to encourage students to spend time volunteering in their local community. If you are not sure where to start, there are organizations like Teen Life Media and VolunteerMatch that help students and parents find a variety of volunteer opportunities within their geographic region. Through volunteering locally, we can give back to the villages that have given us so much!

On April 9th Raising A Village Founder/CEO Jaleesa Hall joined an illustrious team of innovative CEOs at Morgan State University to participate in the “Starting and Leading a Nonprofit” panel at the Graves School of Business and Management. During this insightful Q&A, students were able to ask straightforward questions that lead to life-giving and transformative answers from the panel. Panelists included some of the DMV’s most promising thought leaders in the non-profit sector: Tina Brown, CEO, Divine Fitness and Health Services, Inc. and Divine Health and Wellness Center, Inc.; Mildred Johnson, Evidence-Based Practice Senior Associate, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Dr. Pamela Love, DP Love Enterprises and Founder of the Finishers Network, USMF Foundation Board; Kristopher C. Madore, Esq. Legal Associate Consultant, Maryland Nonprofits; and Sid Wilson, Executive Director, iMentor Baltimore.

“The opportunity to pour into the next generation of Founders and CEOs in the non-profit sector is a truly rewarding experience,” stated Jaleesa. “Today was a true testament to the fact that, as thought leaders, we must uplift others as we continue to climb.”

For more information about the Graves School of Business and Management at Morgan State, visit Morgan State University: Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University .

Reason #2: Volunteering is Good for Your Mind and Body

As we continue to highlight the importance of giving back during , we want to share another fun fact from Western Connecticut State University's admissions recent study on the benefits of volunteering through community service. According to the study, volunteering can provide a healthy boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Also, doing good for others and the community provides a natural sense of accomplishment. And the most important benefit of volunteering through community service is the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive view of your life and future goals.
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There are several ways you can participate in community service from cleaning public spaces, to committing a few hours per week at a local shelter, to volunteering at a summer camp site. As we gear up for our summer intensive programs at community schools and transitional facilities in the DC Metropolitan area, we invite you to journey along with RAV as a volunteer. For more information, email us today at [email protected] or visit our website at https://raisingavillage.org/contact . Together, we can make a difference!

April is National Volunteer Month. Over the course of this month, we will be sharing insightful and heart-warming facts about the importance of volunteering and the positive impact that it has on both the individual and the community they are serving. Our first fun fact about volunteering comes from a study on volunteerism conducted by Habitat for Humanity‌.

When your kindness connects with the kind acts of others, real change is possible! If you are interested in helping those in need, then Raising A Village needs you! Please email us at [email protected] or visit our website at raisingavillage.org/contact to become a volunteer with RAV today!

On February 21st, the sixth-grade class at our partner school Kelly Miller Middle School went on an exciting and enlightening field trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Following the museum visit, students were treated to a unique dining experience at The Cheesecake Factory. Raising A Village was honored to partner with the staff and administration at Kelly Miller Middle School to provide meals for several of the students who would not have been able to partake in the Cheesecake Factory feast due to financial constraints.

“It is always an honor to support our school partners and to ensure that our students enjoy experiences that they will remember for a lifetime,” said Founder/CEO Jaleesa Hall. “Special thanks to Kelly Miller’s Connected Schools Manager, Loren Robinson, for extending this opportunity and helping us Reach, Teach, and Inspire the next generation of leaders both in and out of the classroom.”

As we bring to a close, we turn our focus to one of the brightest rising stars in the international literary space, Amanda Gorman . On a cold winter’s day in January, our hearts were warmed by a beautiful, articulate, and confident young woman who spoke so eloquently at the inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden . On that day, Amanda was introduced to the world as the first National Youth Poet Laureate and the first African American young woman to be granted this honor. Amanda is also the youngest inaugural poet in United States history, as well as an award-winning writer and cm laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has released best-selling books with Penguin Random House.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at just a few years of age. Since then, Amanda’s words have garnered invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and many others. Amanda has performed multiple commissioned poems for CBS This Morning, and she has spoken at events and venues across the country, including the Library of Congress and the Lincoln Center. While receiving numerous awards and accolades, she continues to shatter the glass ceiling as the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.

We could not think of a more rewarding way to end our tribute to women of all ages who have made a difference in this world. RAV family let’s take a moment today to salute a woman at your job, your school, your home or in your community who will never have a national platform but is making a difference in this world every day!