What We Do

Financial Support

The first pillar is financial support—our oldest and most established pillar—which encompasses many of the fundamental services our students need to continue their education and pursue professional careers. All Upward Scholars students benefit from at least one service under financial support—and most students benefit from several at once.

Academic Support

Our second pillar is academic support which makes it possible for our students to thrive in their community college courses. With the help of many community volunteers, our academic support provides tutoring, English conversation partners, English Conversation Club, tutor training, peer tutoring, peer learning facilitators, TransferUp, ScholarUp, and Graduation Celebration.

Upward Scholars’ financial growth and expansion resulted in an increased budget—from nearly $300,000 in 2018 to over $1.5 million in 2023. This increased budget represents:

• our commitment to increasing the breadth and depth of services to students (see image above);

• the increased costs of these services due to inflation and our geographic expansion into the Peralta Community College District in Alameda County; and

• the increased staff time required to develop, manage, and meet our growing community's needs.

Serving students more deeply, with expanded services, and in a new region requires significant staff time to be available for increased high-touch support, to respond quickly to increased direct student contact (through phone, text, email, and in person), and to cultivate relationships and trust with new students and partners. Our staff increased from 1.5 full-time employees in 2018 to 8.25 by 2023, three of whom are current or former Upward Scholars students!

Through our academic programs:

• students experience a community that supports them, bolsters their self-confidence, and instills in them a responsibility for achieving their goals;

• student peers use their academic knowledge and tech skills to pay it forward to students who are at an earlier stage in their academic journeys; and

• students gain awareness about the possibility of transferring to a four-year college, are exposed to peers who have transferred, and are given the support and skills needed to transfer.

In 2020, when none of the community colleges hosted graduations for students, Upward Scholars stepped up to celebrate our students virtually with our first-ever Graduation Celebration. The celebration is so popular among the Upward Scholars family that it is now an annual event. In 2023, Upward Scholars celebrated 37 graduates receiving certificates of achievement and associate's degrees—a new record! If you were unable to attend the celebration or want to share it with others, you can find the recording here and on the Upward Scholars YouTube channel.

Career Development

Our third pillar of support is career development which we established at the end of 2019 to help our students prepare for careers, earn higher salaries and benefits, and move up the socioeconomic ladder. Whether it’s immigration status, lack of college degrees, or being stuck in multiple low-wage jobs, Upward Scholars students face insurmountable obstacles to earning sustainable incomes.

To support our students, Upward Scholars developed five career development programs to build or rebuild their professional prospects:

• TeacherUp provides specialized support for aspiring early educators and childcare providers;

• ¡Habla Más! prepares students to provide Spanish lessons, interpretation, and translation services for pay;

• BusinessUp/BusinessPro coaches student entrepreneurs;

• JobUp offers one-off or part-time job referrals; and

• our mentoring program pairs students with professionals for career advice.

At Upward Scholars, we also hire our own students and alumni. By growing and hiring from within, Upward Scholars exposes our students to working professionally in the nonprofit sector and cultivates strong advocates for our community. Although this takes significantly more time and effort, we strongly believe in this way of building our community. We seek to provide all of our staff with opportunities for professional development in line with our grow-your-own model to show our community that they, too, are capable of Building Upward!

Holistic Support

Our fourth and final pillar is holistic support. Adult immigrants deal with many physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual hardships that take a toll on their health and well-being. Upward Scholars’ holistic support ensures students are safe and healthy so they remain focused on building up their academic and professional goals.

In order to serve students holistically, Upward Scholars provides:

• a Student Safety Net Fund to help students meet their basic or emergency needs;

• Plática Entre Familia, a monthly support group for students to share their challenges and successes with staff, including a bilingual/bicultural immigrant grief facilitator;

• Platiquitas, small-group sessions centered around spiritual and emotional well-being;

• individual or group spiritual counseling for students and their families;

• resource navigation support and accompaniment to partner organizations;

• written references (e.g., employment, housing, immigration); and

• a WhatsApp group for students to build community and share concerns and resources with each other.

Upward Scholars also focuses on holistic wellness for staff. We encourage staff to solicit the services of the grief facilitator and established our first-ever Wellness Committee in late 2021 tasked with celebrating important dates, cultivating wellness as an integral part of our new team culture, and planning culturally and socially relevant gatherings. In addition, Upward Scholars created a comprehensive benefits package that highlights our commitment to maintain staff wellness, combat the recent high rates of burnout evident across the nonprofit sector, and, thus, retain high-performing staff. Upward Scholars strongly believes that when our staff members feel holistically valued, they are better able to serve students, support volunteers, and together build up our community.