Support Generation Hope

As Generation Hope prepares to celebrate another graduation season, we’re reflecting on the collective impact that continues to move student parent families closer to their goals.

Because of this community, Generation Hope has distributed more than $2.1 million in tuition assistance directly to student parents, including more than $250,000 already distributed in FY26 alone. This support helps reduce the financial barriers that too often interrupt a student parent’s path to degree completion.

This spring, that support is helping bring Generation Hope closer to a meaningful milestone: 300 degrees earned by Scholars in our program.

Behind every degree is persistence, sacrifice, and determination. Behind every milestone is a community choosing to invest in student parents and their futures.

Thank you to everyone helping make this work possible. You are part of the story in our never-ending, impactful journey.

We’re just one day away from the Tiny Sparks Celebration, an evening bringing together community members, advocates, supporters, and student parent families to celebrate ‘Student Parent: The Fight for Families, the Cost of Poverty, and the Power of College’ by our Founder & CEO, Nicole Lynn Lewis.

The evening will create space for reflection, conversation, and connection around the lived experiences and systems shaping student parent success today. Guests joining us in Washington, D.C. can expect an opportunity to connect with the Generation Hope community ahead of a special program and celebration beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.

For those unable to attend in person, the program will also be streamed live via Instagram () and YouTube (supportgenhope) so supporters across the country can still be part of this moment!

There’s still time to RSVP — we look forward to celebrating with you! https://bit.ly/4nl5NzF

What does it look like to create real support for student parents and their families?

This month’s Generation Hope newsletter explores that question through moments of celebration, honest conversation, and community care. You will step inside an upcoming gathering honoring the stories behind ‘Student Parent’ by Nicole Lynn Lewis, revisit a national discussion on the future of higher education, and hear reflections on the emotional realities student parents often carry while balancing school, work, caregiving, and daily life.

It’s also a reminder that support extends beyond the classroom. Sometimes it looks like creating space for rest, connection, visibility, and community. Sometimes it looks like institutions choosing to build systems with families in mind.

If you want a deeper look into the stories, people, and conversations shaping this movement, subscribe to our newsletter today 🔗 https://mailchi.mp/generationhope/ghnewslettersignup

Congratulations again to New Legacy Charter School, a 2025 FamilyU Seal Award winner recognized for its commitment to supporting teen parents and their children through a two-generation approach.

By combining high school education, early childhood care, career exploration, and holistic student support, New Legacy is creating pathways that acknowledge and respond to the realities student parents navigate every day.

Their work reflects the kind of intentional, family-centered design that the FamilyU Seal seeks to recognize and elevate.
Watch their video to hear directly from the community behind this important work 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-IgvbOct34&t=20s

Congratulations again to College Unbound, Generation Hope’s 2025 Higher Ed Institution FamilyU Seal Exemplar Award winner.

College Unbound continues to demonstrate what is possible when institutions design systems with student parents and adult learners in mind — integrating childcare support, community partnerships, flexibility, and meaningful student-centered practices into the college experience.

We recently shared a short film where students, alumni, and staff leaders share how College Unbound is approaching higher education differently and why that approach matters.

Watch the video to hear directly from the voices shaping this work and learn more about what earned College Unbound this recognition 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmzZMcXo3FI&t=14s

We’re giving future graduates, future leaders, and future changemakers a little more time…

The deadline to apply for Generation Hope’s DC Scholar Program has been extended to Monday, June 1.

At Generation Hope, student parents receive direct support, community, mentorship, and resources designed to help them stay on track in college while raising their children.

If you know a student parent in the DC area who should be part of this community, now’s the time to apply. Applications close soon, so apply today https://cm2hope.neworg.com/default.asp?PageNum=57

Behind assignments, work schedules, childcare pickups, and financial pressures are people carrying enormous mental and emotional loads while still showing up for their families and their futures. Too often, student parents are expected to navigate these challenges quietly.

At Generation Hope, we believe mental health support must be part of how institutions, workplaces and communities support student parents — not an afterthought.

Mental Health Awareness Week is a reminder that care looks different for everyone. Sometimes it’s counseling, sometimes it’s community and sometimes it’s flexibility and rest!

To every student parent balancing more than most people can see: we hope you give yourself the same compassion you give to everyone around you. You deserve support, joy, peace, and space to breathe, too.

We’re resharing our 2026 National & State Policy and Advocacy Agenda as an important reminder that student parents must remain part of conversations around higher education policy and systems change.

An estimated 3.8 million student parents are currently pursuing college degrees while raising children, yet many continue dealing with policies and institutional systems that fail to account for the realities of parenting while enrolled in school.

Our agenda outlines key policy priorities connected to childcare, housing, food security, financial aid, and student parent success — all backed by research, lived experience, and direct advocacy from student parents themselves.

We encourage our community, partners, and advocates to revisit the agenda and continue engaging with the policy changes student parents have long been calling for. Read the full report 🔗 https://www.generationhope.org/2026policyadvocacyagenda

Tomorrow is the final day to apply for the FamilyU Cohort!

FamilyU brings together higher education institutions committed to improving outcomes for student parents through collaboration, strategy, and family-inclusive practices that create stronger pathways to degree completion and long-term economic mobility.

This cohort is an opportunity for colleges and universities to strengthen the ways they support parenting students while learning alongside peers across the country who are advancing this work on their campuses.

If your institution is ready to deepen its commitment to student parents and their families, we encourage you to submit your application before the deadline tomorrow at midnight. Apply today -- https://www.generationhope.org/familyucohort

We are excited to invite our community to the Tiny Sparks Celebration on Thursday, May 28 — an afternoon dedicated to connection, storytelling, and the collective commitment to supporting student parents in higher education.

As we continue the momentum of HOPE 2026, this gathering offers an opportunity to come together in a more intimate setting while celebrating Student Parent: The Fight for Families, the Cost of Poverty, and the Power of College by Nicole Lynn Lewis.

We are also honored to announce that award-winning broadcast journalist and NBC4 weekday news anchor Shawn Yancy will moderate the evening’s conversation.

This event will bring together advocates, partners, supporters, families, and community members who believe student parents deserve access to opportunity, stability, and long-term economic mobility while pursuing their education.

We look forward to gathering in community with you. RSVP today -- https://bit.ly/4nl5NzF

To the ones studying while a toddler sleeps on your chest, and showing up to class on nothing but determination and cold coffee — today is for you! We see you across our Generation Hope community, on campus, and in every corner of this work. And today we’re celebrating you loudly, lovingly, and with so much gratitude!

Happy Mother’s Day to the student parents, the mothers in our program, our team, and every mother around the world holding it all together in her own way. You deserve flowers, softness, rest… and then some more flowers! 💐