Calvince is the Journey4YOUth coordinator. He went through the Journey4YOUth education program as a teenager and also became the first Journey4YOUth student to graduate college. He spent many years volunteering for Journey4YOUth programs and when the Kenyan coordinator position became available, he was the perfect candidate and has done a great job managing and facilitating the Journey4YOUth programs in Kenya.
Katie is the co-founder and chief executive of Journey4YOUth. She manages donations, appropriations and all the administration. She also facilitates the coordination between Journey4YOUth students and donors in the United States and around the world. Katie has always maintained a volunteer, non-paid position with Journey4YOUth.
Brian is a co-founder and consultant of Journey4YOUth. He is a non-board member who assists Katie with program initiatives, marketing, public relations and fundraising. Brian has always maintained a volunteer, non-paid position with Journey4YOUth.
Brian and Katie’s first trip to Kenya took place in the summer of 2010, when they were invited to work on the organic farm of a local family in Kaswanga Village. Famine in East Africa severely limited the available farming work, so they began volunteering in local schools and at a small community lunch program instead.
Spending several months in the bush had a profound impact on them. Being welcomed and included in the community reshaped their worldview and gave them a new lens through which to see both the world and their role in it. Brian and Katie remained connected to the families they met, and two years later they were invited back to Kenya. During this return trip, they were asked if they could help support a community lunch program that had recently lost its funding.
In 2012, Brian and Katie met with a council of elders and went door to door, visiting the families of the children they had come to know during their first visit. They asked parents, grandparents, and caregivers a simple but important question:
How can we best support your community?
The answer was unanimous - invest in the children’s education. That response became the foundation of Journey4YOUth’s mission. Since 2012, Journey4YOUth has invested in the education of 60–100 students each year and has been able to provide tuition support through secondary school and college, helping students build brighter and more sustainable futures with a resource that cannot be taken away.
Spending several months in the bush had a profound impact on them. Being welcomed and included in the community reshaped their worldview and gave them a new lens through which to see both the world and their role in it. Brian and Katie remained connected to the families they met, and two years later they were invited back to Kenya. During this return trip, they were asked if they could help support a community lunch program that had recently lost its funding.
In 2012, Brian and Katie met with a council of elders and went door to door, visiting the families of the children they had come to know during their first visit. They asked parents, grandparents, and caregivers a simple but important question:
How can we best support your community?
The answer was unanimous - invest in the children’s education. That response became the foundation of Journey4YOUth’s mission. Since 2012, Journey4YOUth has invested in the education of 60–100 students each year and has been able to provide tuition support through secondary school and college, helping students build brighter and more sustainable futures with a resource that cannot be taken away.
