Nonprofit Profile: Give Chances is helping low-income children in N.J.

In brief

Location: 235 Pegasus Ave., Northvale
Serving: New Jersey, New York and beyond
Key members: Kevin Lee, chair of board and president; Eric Kang, vice president; Sam Lee, treasurer; Jimmy Song, board member; Anna Lee, executive director

Origin

Since 2015, Give Chances has changed its mission and target population to children of low-income communities in New Jersey, whereas, previously, we served children in Honduras. In 2016, Give Chances started an after-school program for children from low-income immigrant families in Palisades Park. In 2019, Give Chances opened another after-school program in Hackenack. However, in 2020, due to the pandemic, all learning centers have been closed and switched to virtual learning. This helped us to reach more low-income students in different towns and even different states.

Mission

Give Chances’ mission and vision is to create and provide opportunities for children, youth and people with disabilities who do not have access to quality education and/or timely care due to limited resources. 

Goals

Our goals long-term are to spread our services nationwide to reach more people in need. Our overall goal is to close the education and learning gap and reduce inequality for families of low-income. Our goals include providing education, services and programs for healthy development and education that sets children up for success. Long-term, we are looking to increase the number of learning centers for our learning programs in order to support students on a larger range.

Programs

The main programs we currently have are our Children Education Programs, Youth Mentoring & Development Programs, and Disability Support. Children Education Programs provides quality education programs to children in communities with limited economic resources and support them to achieve their potentials and discover their talents. The Youth Mentoring & Development Programs support the visions and dreams of the youth. Our Disability Support program aims to support people with disabilities with career development, and encourage businesses and employers to hire people with disabilities.

Achievements

Some of our key achievements in the past year include an increase in the number of students and volunteers. We have recently opened our programs to students and volunteers from all states due to everything being online. We have been able to support more families with funds for rent, COVID support to stay safe, school supplies and materials, and other necessities.

Fundraising

Give Chances raises money through faithful donors who make contributions through monthly and one-time donations. We also receive a bulk of our funding through our applications for grants from the state and nationwide opportunities.

Benefactors

Our benefactors include corporations, small businesses, foundations, government entities and individual donors. Some top contributors include: iOttie Inc., PnP Line, DuoGreen, OFBI, NY Nanum Foundation, Bethany United Methodist Church and more.

Finally

We strive to provide quality education for all, and we kindly ask you to walk with us.

Conversation Starter

For more information, please contact Soyoung Park at soyoung.pa@givechances.org or call 201-260-0640. Those interested in learning more about the organization can visit our website at: givechances.org.