Generation Hope

Year Founded: 2010

Generation Hope believes that providing intensive wraparound support to teen parents in college and their children, building higher education capacity through their FamilyU model, and influencing systems through research, policy, and advocacy can drive equitable outcomes for student parents. By aligning direct service, capacity building, and policy advocacy, they aim to advance economic mobility and generational wealth for systematically underserved communities.

Generation Hope’s innovative, multi-pronged model goes beyond traditional college success programs by addressing economic outcomes for student parents post-college. Their unique blend of direct service, capacity building, and advocacy aligns with New Profit’s Economic Mobility strategy and amplifies the voices and experiences of student parents to create systemic change.

Founded in 2010, Generation Hope operates nationally, providing direct services in the Washington, D.C. region, Greater New Orleans, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. More than 30 colleges and universities have partnered with Generation Hope, and its work has reached over 150,000 student parents.
Led by Founder and CEO Nicole Lynn Lewis, an award-winning author, speaker, and advocate, Generation Hope is driving bold efforts to support student parents and advance racial equity and generational wealth building.

Impact Highlights:

• Generation Hope Scholars graduate at twice the rate of low-income college students and seven times the rate of single mothers nationwide.
• They successfully co-sponsored and advocated for AB 2881, groundbreaking legislation in California addressing the needs of student parents.
• Generation Hope has demonstrated strong post-graduation outcomes, including higher job placement rates and wages for their program participants relative to their peers.