Jason Powell and his students collaborated to create options to confront the cycle of poverty in the Muncie community by empowering families to achieve long-term growth and stability through education and comprehensive support. The team focused almost entirely on forming the structure for a new non-profit organization through grant writing, creating a seven-member Board of Directors and fostering relationships with several allies in the Muncie community and local schools. The resulting non-profit, Beneficence Family Scholars, aims to ease economic pressures by fully funding stable housing, access to food, childcare, healthcare and many other opportunities for local families who desire to improve their lives through higher education in hopes of disrupting cycles of generational poverty. The new non-profit is affiliated with the renowned Family Scholar House in Louisville, Kentucky, which provided resources and a structural model for the organization. The seminar’s community partners were the Ball State University Honors College, Ball State University’s Office of the President and The Excel Center.
View the seminar Facebook page and watch their documentary to learn more about the project.
