Higher education provides financial stability and increased job opportunities, ending the cyclical dependence on welfare. As research proves, the number of years of college completed is directly related to economic self-sufficiency.

Our Mission

There is a disparity in academic opportunity between low-income students and their more affluent peers. In our program, students receive personally relevant, engaging experiences through career-oriented lectures and mentorship opportunities. We endeavor to inspire and uniquely impact young women’s life goals and achievements by exposing them to previously unimagined college and career opportunities.

Our Vision

To provide low-income, high-potential young women in high school with the necessary skills and tools for future success in academia and the workplace. We do this by building an adult and peer mentor network and an academic support organization that serves young women nationwide.

Our Program

Our rigorous academic program focuses on educational goals and progress towards high school graduation, building college level study habits and writing skills, equal access to quality education and multiple long term mentoring relationships.

The Apareció Foundation was established in 2009 as an economic development strategy to lift women out of poverty and as a community development approach to build the leadership capacity of low-income women. TAF is unique in that it is a grassroots-based collaborative providing access for low-income women to higher education. It is a free-standing college access, leadership and eight-year multiple-mentoring program

The Apareció Foundation is a registered, non-profit, 501(c)(3) charity. Every dollar donated directly benefits our mission to fund mentoring, academic assistance, and scholarship programs for high-potential, low-income women in public high schools

High School

• Increased self‐confidence and enrollment in advanced curriculum
• Exposure to high-potential career paths
• Gains in real-world skills, including communication, teamwork and analytical thinking
• Increased college preparedness and enrollment in universities

College

• Increased levels of academic and social integration that foster college success
• Develop skills in stress management and curriculum pacing
• Increased student engagement and leadership opportunities
• Increased job preparedness and advancement in select top-tier careers and fields

Educational retention rates remain low despite a significant increase in basic education and secondary enrollment for female students, particularly among low-income sectors. Women continue to be largely underrepresented in many critical fields, such as mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering, as well as in graduate education generally.

Investing in girls’ education delivers huge economic returns, delays marriage and first pregnancy, and increases women’s health and disease prevention. Girls’ education leads to increased income, both for individuals and for nations as a whole. While educating both boys and girls increases productivity and supports the growth of national economies, the education of girls may lead to greater income gains.

Female dropouts face particularly steep economic consequences. As compared to their male peers, female dropouts have higher rates of unemployment, earn significantly lower wages, and are more likely to rely on public support programs to provide for their families.

Why is it important to address the nation’s high school dropout crisis?
Dropouts cost taxpayers $8 billion annually in public assistance programs and earn less than $10,000 a year versus workers with diplomas; that is $355 billion in lost lifetime earnings. Recent reports indicate that dropouts are more likely to be unemployed and almost 60% of federal inmates are high school dropouts.