How It All Started...
The founder Crystal Bailey decided to step back from her career in finance and to step up to meet the needs in the underserved communities of Chicago.
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“I left my job in March of 2020 to begin my next chapter. My last day on the job was the first day of lockdown for Chicago. Months passed as I wrestled with where and how I could make a difference.
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I started organizing a free income tax preparation program focusing on low-income taxpayers and senior citizens with my place of worship. This experience of opened my eyes to the great need for financial literacy starting with our children. Why focus on remediating damage caused by years of uninformed decisions when the key was to educate our youth.”
Our Mission
The Meet The Need Foundation is missioned to provide low-income communities with educational resources and work opportunities to help close the current wealth and resource gaps that exist in those communities.
We believe it takes hearts and hands that work, to effect change at the grassroots level.
"Serving With Hearts and Hands."
Our Focus
We target recent high school graduates who have not moved into college or vocational schools, to help them reroute their careers. We provide tools to support in the development of their own career plan.
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In addition to education, we are cultivating them as the next generation of peer leaders by employing them to mentor our high school interns. We believe providing employment opportunities and hands on experience will remove the barriers caused by lack of education and or training.
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Our high school interns benefit from financial education and skills based job readiness trainings.