FGF was founded by Jazmin Reyes in July 2020 as an undergraduate at Stanford University. Throughout her childhood, Jazmin saw her family and her community suffer through poverty, racism, and an unjust education system as a first-generation and low-income student herself. Our goal is to help other FGLI students in similar situations get better access to higher education. From the very early stages of daydreaming about college to getting accepted, FGF aims to ensure that no FGLI student is ever alone.
First Generation First started as an idea between two friends who had both seen the inequities of being a first-generation and low-income college student at an elite university like Stanford. Jazmin and Caroline met in their freshman year of college and soon came to realize that they shared very similar experiences despite coming from different cultures and states. They came to appreciate and rely on each other and realized they never wanted other first-generation students to struggle as much as they had. Their matching desire to help students and care for education led them to launch FGF, where we put first-generation and/or low-income students first.
Our organization aims to provide the information that many first-generation and/or low-income students struggle to obtain or understand. Through scholarships, resume templates, explaining new terminology, and much more, FGF plans to increase students' confidence by preparing them throughout high school and before they enter college. We are also working towards aiding our students' parents, many of which are undocumented immigrants, refugees, or did not have the opportunity to enter postsecondary education. Our plan is to make the high school to college transition as easy as possible for everyone involved.
Let us know if you'd like to join our team!