Vision, Mission, and Core Values
Our Vision
A society in which all youth—regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status—have access to high-quality educational opportunities and the tools to achieve success.
Our Mission
To advance educational opportunities for college-bound, career-minded, historically underrepresented and underserved youth.
Our Core Values
Our Making Waves Education Foundation community – students, alumni, staff members, board members, donors, and partners – is committed to expanding educational opportunity. Our core values guide our work together.
Drive impact.
We expand educational opportunity for underrepresented students – this is the heart of our mission. To support college and career success for individual students and at scale in communities, we think big, set ambitious goals, and achieve results.
Promote equity.
We acknowledge that marginalized communities face systemic inequities. With our students, we address barriers to opportunity by supporting them to pursue their dreams. With our staff, we leverage our diverse perspectives, build genuine relationships, and implement policies that promote fairness for everyone.
Build community.
We seek deep connections and nurture authentic, inclusive relationships. We show up for each other and build each other up with love, strength, and joy. We accelerate progress through intentional collaboration and partnership.
Do hard things.
When we see a challenge, we rise to it with optimism and courage. The stakes are high, so we don’t give up.
Learn and grow.
We stretch ourselves by staying curious and testing new ideas. We reflect, celebrate, iterate, and share our learning to support others’ growth.
ABOUT MAKING WAVES EDUCATION FOUNDATION
At Making Waves, we are committed to educational equity. Making Waves Education Foundation is a Bay Area nonprofit that supports Making Waves Academy – a public charter school with more than 1,100 5th through 12th grade students – and leads college and career programming with more than 500 college students.
Knowing the opportunities that come with a college degree, we partner with historically underrepresented and underserved students to help make college affordable and graduation attainable. Centering the journeys of our students, our personalized approach includes college and career coaching, scholarships, and financial planning.
Our alumni network includes more than 600 college graduates, who earn their degrees and land jobs at more than twice the rate of their first-generation, low-income peers, with 84% graduating debt-free.