How We Work
MENTORING
We treat our scholars as if they were our own middle-class children. Mentoring begins during the senior year of high school. Individual attention and support are provided throughout college and beyond, well past graduation, on an ongoing basis, to ensure these students’ success, as they pursue graduate studies or careers and help them acquire the “cultural capital” that students from middle-to-upper class families take for granted
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
1
You are the hero of your life, not the victim of your adversity. You’re not defined by the things that hold you back. You’re defined by how you rise above them.
2
There is no shame and blame in the BEF. We hold scholars accountable without being judgmental
3
You DO belong in college (dealing with feelings that they don’t belong; embarrassment about their poverty; the entitlement of their college peers)
4
There is collaboration without competition or judgment.
5
Beware of feelings masquerading as reality
6
You can be angry, or you can be effective, but you cannot be both at the same time