EEqual is a for-youth-by-youth non-profit working to overcome student homelessness by raising awareness and increasing access to higher education. There are 25 EEqual Chapters. Chapters are youth-led groups, spread across the country, organizing with their peers, addressing the problem of youth homelessness. We hope to grow and expand our Chapters program through the Power of Youth campaign. Our goal is to double the number of EEqual Chapters by the end of 2022.
There are over 1.5 million homeless students in the US. We know that youth are more likely to succeed when they have access to education, community engagement, and leadership development. For students living in poverty, their situation often leaves them isolated, disconnected, and stigmatized. This decreases a young person's chances of success and further perpetuates the cycle of poverty for them and their families.
The Chapters program provides a place for youth to come together and build community around the issues of poverty and education. Chapter meetings happen outside of school hours, keeping students engaged in meaningful, positive activities. Each chapter is student-initiated and student-led, which means youth consistently engage with EEqual on leadership development. EEqual has developed a curriculum for the chapters, including meeting topics, games, activities, articles, and service projects.
We have been successful with our current chapters. We have taken what we've learned and want to continue opening new chapters. The good news is that we already know how to do this. We just need the resources. Ultimately, we envision a national community of youth, engaged and motivated to support each other. We want EEqual Chapters to exist in every school and community across the US so that young people don't have to wait to make an impact in their communities, they can start doing it now.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
