Who we are and why we’re here

The Human Services and Social Justice major at George Washington provides students with opportunities to apply concepts learned in the classroom to societal issues. The program, which serves as a crossroads of sociology and psychology, allows students to engage within the community and the non-profit sector in order to dismantle injustice.

The Inspire Up Foundation was created by students in the HSSJ Spring Capstone Seminar. This means that all of the students are majors, and are graduating in May or the following semester.

As a class, we brainstormed possible topics to build our foundation on. In the first class we decided that we would focus on issues that are going to be most disturbed by the new administration. We discussed programs that would offer legal support and advocacy to refugee and immigrant populations. The class was also interested in health care and mental health, specifically for women and the LGBTQ community. We ultimately decided by vote that educational equity is an increasingly important subject. As a class, we wanted to keep our mission statement general, so that various and unconventional nonprofits could apply. Our goal is to use the grant to help any kind of marginalized community, which could mean many different things.

I think it is fair to say that our class is very excited about the opportunity to give a grant. Many of the students have grant writing experience (as required by our major), but none of us have experienced the other side of reviewing applications. At just a few weeks in, I have already learned so much from the class, and I am looking forward to the rest of the process.

#Education #Equity #Identity #LearningbyGiving