History and Growth

Glow Foundation initially started as a volunteer-driven grassroots initiative in 2006 by two mentors at BUILD, a high school-focused youth entrepreneurship and college preparation program.  During their mentorship work in East Palo Alto, Adam Marchick and Anne Diaz were struck with the harsh reality that many college-admitted students from low income families do not enroll in college due to financial hardships.  While trying to fundraise scholarship dollars to help their mentee students attend college, Adam and Anne observed that in addition to simply not having enough money, the students were not aware of financial aid options and were frightened by the thought of borrowing money, which made enrolling in college even more financially out of reach.   The majority of the students came from families with no history of college students and had few role models or guidance to help them navigate the potential financial options to be able to afford college.

This led to Glow Foundation’s unique program that combines financial education and financial aid to help high potential, low income students attend college. The goal was to teach the students the tools to proactively plan and acquire funding for college in addition to providing monetary grants to fill the last dollar gap. The financial education will also be a valuable lifetime tool even beyond college.

Since starting in June 2006, Glow has grown rapidly driven by the urgent need and its efficient partnership approach.  In 2006, Glow started by providing financial education and college scholarships to the first group of 6 students from BUILD in the East Palo Alto community.  In less than 3 years, Glow has served nearly 400 students through its Financial Education Program at 14 partner schools and youth programs around the Bay Area and has awarded Scholarships to over 40 students.  In addition, Glow has expanded its geographic reach from initial East Palo Alto to include San Jose, Milpitas, Redwood City, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Leandro communities.

Our long term goal is to continue to grow and leverage our proven model to reach thousands of students in the California regions and nationally.  Moreover, we are investing in a new web-based financial education initiative to reach even broader group of college-bound high school students who would benefit from our program.

2006 Glow Scholars Wendy, Raniel, Jahvita, and Edgar with Co-founders Anne (left) and Adam (right)