MISSION:
SAGEAF will provide guidance, scholarships and or grants to individuals regardless of race, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or financial ability for the purpose of higher education or technical or trade training to include tools, materials, tuition, fees and support funding.
ABOUT SAGEAF:
We are the Scholarship and Grant Educational Assistance Foundation and we are SaGE AF. We embody wisdom and knowledge and seek to assist individuals in finding and applying for scholarships and grants for their educational endeavors. Those endeavors may be college, university, community college, tech or trade schools. As we are able we will provide funding to stand in the spaces between what is awarded and what is needed to be successful in their educational journey.
"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."
— MALCOM X
PROBLEM:
We cannot assist everyone that needs assistance. We cannot save the world as it were. So in our initial years at SaGE AF we are choosing to focus on a group that could truly use our assistance. We are focusing on those that are or were in the Arizona State Foster Care system from the age of 14 on up and are currently under 26. Statistically speaking, nationwide, less than 5% of youth raised in foster care obtain a 4 year degree and between 2% and 6% receive a degree from community college.
When we are talking to people about what we do and for whom, all are surprised to hear that there is funding available for these young adults to go to college or trade schools. Even those who are current or former foster parents do not know!! This is a problem, there is funding and many do not know that it is available so they do not apply and do not try and do not have hope for education that does not include student loans.
In our first year, SaGE AF will focus on assistance to Arizona State Foster Care wards ages 14 to 26.
IMPACT:
We work with other nonprofit organizations in the Foster Care space in Arizona to identify those that could use assistance from us in navigating the system. We are a young nonprofit and just starting out so our first year we are seeking to assist 10 young adults to assist in finding scholarships and grants as well as funding where we are needed to aid in a successful educational experience.