To and through the last mile

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To and through the last mile :::

We are PowHERful.

 

Since 2011, we have helped thousands of young women successfully access, thrive, and graduate college. Our financial assistance, enrichment opportunities, and services have helped our scholars realize their full potential.

 
 

We provide a bridge…

... between obstacles and opportunity, giving young women the experiences. education and resources needed to overcome unexpected barriers to success.

 

Our scholars

These young women inspire us with their intelligence, grit, resilience, and excellence. Thanks to individuals like you, we are helping them get to, and through, college.

Featured News & Conversations

Featured
Broadening Access to Higher Learning in 2025
Broadening Access to Higher Learning in 2025

We’ve welcomed 2025; the holiday celebrations are barely behind us. And now we face truly sobering questions about the future of American education. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies are under attack; the incoming president and his administration are vowing to wipe out federally funded diversity programs, remove protections for Q+ students, and eliminate the federal oversight and funding that support programs designed to assist low-income students. They threaten to jettison the Department of Education. Going forward, what can we expect?

In view of this daunting forecast, recent results from New America’s Varying Degrees survey provide some encouragement about how Americans view diversity.

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Bringing Light
Bringing Light

In this darkest time of year, we light candles and string sparkling lights on trees, reminding each other that brighter days will come. It is comforting to come together with friends, family, and community to nurture closeness, kindness, and mutual support — and to celebrate our resilience!

In this spirit, we bring you the story of a nursing assistant and PowHERful scholar who, at 41, is working to bring more light to the world. Over the past number of years, she's found that caring for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients is ever more critical and is particularly meaningful to her. “I’ve learned wound care skills, critical thinking skills, end-of-life skills, how to implement care plans, how to create activities to adapt to changing physical needs, to be a shoulder to cry on, to be a keeper of memories…

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PowHERful Gratitude
PowHERful Gratitude

The PowHERful Foundation joins with Soledad O’Brien to express our gratitude this Thanksgiving not just for the many successes of our scholars but also for you, the individuals who care. We are in deep appreciation for your generosity as donors and mentors, as well as your ongoing empathy and kindness. 

Your support helps PowHERful scholars—girls and young women striving to fulfill their goals—earn their degrees. Your thoughtfulness inspires them to pursue meaningful careers and contribute to the larger community we all share. 

We wish you, PowHERful scholars, alumni, and generous supporters a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Sukanya Ferguson, Change Agent
Sukanya Ferguson, Change Agent

Growing up in Brooklyn with the unwavering support of an attentive mother, PowHERful scholar Suki Ferguson excelled in school. “Through my mom,” she says, “I learned the value of perseverance and resourcefulness. I felt empowered to aim high and navigate spaces where resources were abundant, though not always accessible to everyone.” Suki was selected for a highly competitive public high school, an academic environment that sensitized her further to the disparity of opportunities available to different groups. She saw clear evidence that “marginalized communities often have to work twice as hard just to gain entry into these spaces.”….

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A Diploma in Resilience
A Diploma in Resilience

PowHERful scholars told us they like the word 'Resilience.' They like what it means: Strength that bounces back. And they agree: Resilience is learned the hard way, from experience and from surviving the worst. In college, with so many challenges coming on at once, much of what is learned goes beyond academics. There's a tidal wave of organizational conundrums, financial straits, social stresses, and relationship upsets. Scholars are forced to face their deepest insecurities and weaknesses. Every PowHERful scholar can look back and trace her arduous path to developing resilience; two have generously shared their stories here....

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The Wisdom of One Day at a Time
The Wisdom of One Day at a Time

Paw K’mwee is taking things day by day: life, she knows, is unpredictable. Paw saw this as a child, when she was uprooted with her family from Burma by sectarian violence and escaped across the mountains to Thailand. For years, the family lived in a refugee camp. And then one day, when Paw was eleven, she and her family left the camp and came to the U.S. Everything in this country—the environment, the language, the culture—was foreign to them. In every direction lay obstacles to surmount. Paw knew it would take relentless hard work to learn to navigate this new reality….

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