Announcing the Legacy Partners Program, Our First-Ever Monthly Giving Initiative
Project Legacy started small in 2008.
While working for the Rochester Public Schools, I noticed the vast number of students who were disconnected from school and community because of the barriers of poverty and lack of transportation. As a simple gesture to help, I began offering a free yoga class that focused on what it means to be a healthy girl in today's society while navigating the roles, expectations and responsibilities of relationships – sister, daughter, friend and granddaughter.
Three girls came to the first class, and by the end of the year, I had met more than 200 youth. That was where the idea for Project Legacy was born. And today, nearly 10 years later, two of the three original students are in a four-year university majoring in nursing and dietetics.
At Project Legacy, impact is tangible.
Since Project Legacy was founded, grants and donations have been critical to our success as an organization. Our goal has always been consistent – empower youth of color in our community. Staying true to this goal through the years, we have seen hundreds of youth come through our programs, with many successfully interrupting the patterns of trauma, violence and substance abuse in their lives, and instead forging a new future filled with integrity, hope and friendship.
But today, we are at a crossroads.
As we approach a critical time in our organization's history, we have continued to grow beyond our capacity to serve. We are ready to take our organization to the next level, creating more services to help youth ranging from tuition assistance to mental health support to housing. Our dreams are big, and to complement the size of our dreams, we're launching into our first ever monthly giving initiative: the Legacy Partners Program.
The Legacy Partners program is a monthly giving initiative that allows community members to partner with Project Legacy through financial giving. The program will help support the continued growth and sustainability at Project Legacy through tuition assistance, peer support groups and by providing ongoing services like housing, medical and mental health support.
The impact of the Legacy Partners program will be tangible, with all gifts going directly to direct care programs. For example, a monthly gift of $25 (the minimum amount to become a member of the Legacy Partners program) will fund one college credit for a youth participant when considered on an annual basis.
Legacy Partners will not only contribute to our vision financially, but they will become the foundation in which all of our future dreams are made possible. In a display of gratitude, Legacy Partners will receive ongoing program updates, in addition to invitations to dinners and events with the Project Legacy leadership and youth participant teams.
Most of all, Legacy Partners will be acknowledged as the driving force in our vision for the future.
Our dream is to someday have a youth development home for young people who have had few positive relationships in their lives and who lack the resources and supports necessary to create a positive future. This home would provide a safe space where youth can learn how to build and maintain positive relationships while learning how to care for a house and create a safe home for themselves and their future families. It would provide stability while they are going to college or trade programs or are preparing for the workforce.
We're building something meaningful. Are you ready to partner with us to empower more youth to build a legacy for their future?
If so, please consider joining the Legacy Partners program and becoming a monthly donor of Project Legacy today. Monthly giving builds a sustainable, reliable foundation for our program, which allows us to keep dreaming to the future and, most importantly, reach more youth in this life-changing work.
Thank you for your generosity and partnership. Without you, Project Legacy wouldn't be possible.