Our Solution

HomeWorks Trenton is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that provides an after-school boarding program for high school girls in Trenton that supplements public schools; fosters healthy cognitive, social-emotional, and moral development; promotes female empowerment; and builds community leaders. Our scholars attend their public schools during the day; engage in after-school activities emphasizing intellectual exploration, health and wellness, female empowerment, and civic engagement within the Trenton community; eat a family-style meal; attend evening study hall; stay with us overnight in a community-based house dormitory on Sunday through Thursday nights, and build lifelong bonds with peers who will improve the climate of their public schools and learn practical skills which will enable them to identify, catalyze, and enact change in Trenton. Our unique model elevates public education by replicating the benefits of a boarding school experience without the bureaucracy, high fixed costs, and scalability issues. 22 These benefits include academic and extracurricular enrichment and social-emotional and one-on-one support in a stable peer environment with adult supervision and mentoring. The HomeWorks scholars will grow together and become role models in their public schools and emergent leaders in Trenton. Our mission is to foster a community of empowered young women who strive to achieve their full potential and positively impact the world around them. “Our mission is to foster a community of empowered young women who strive to achieve their full potential and positively impact the world around them.”

Far Left: Group huddle at our first HomeWorks annual Field Day at Princeton University

Left: A scholar speaks in front of donors and community partners at our first annual Summer Gala.

Bottom: Planning meeting to brainstorm community challenges for the Social Innovation Panel with Mayor Gusciora