Our Impact
Our Goals
We want to provide education and support services that help at-risk youth in Guayaquil’s neighborhood of Flor de Bastión improve school attendance, improve grades, increase parent involvement, and return to the program the following years until students graduate from secondary school.
Long-term, we want to ensure that at-risk Ecuadorian youth achieve a post-secondary education.
“I believe that if we know about something, we’re responsible to do something.”
Our Initiatives
The primary initiatives of Starfish are a scholarship program, a tutoring program, and leadership development.
Starfish also addresses factors limiting student achievement: access to technology, behavioral problems/issues at home, and hunger. Starfish offers Internet, computers, and printing services to help students submit/complete homework online; delivers counseling/parent involvement programs with its staff psychologist; and provides nutritious snacks at tutoring sessions. Other supplemental programs that benefit students and their families include the following:
An improved professional development program
New parent programs such as monthly "School for Parents" sessions
Celebrations such as an annual talent show and Christmas party
Purchasing and distributing uniforms, backpacks and school supplies
Psychological services for individuals and families, including bi-monthly groups
100%
of students we worked with stayed in school and are re-enrolled for the coming academic year!
Read the latest annual report.
61 students received a scholarship in the 2023-2024 school year.
OUR RESULTS
Starfish has focused on student academic grades and critical thinking.
EVALUATION
In the 2023-2024 school year, 92% of our students earned an A or B average at school.
Since its inception, Starfish has seen continual increase in its key impact metrics. Starfish evaluates its success by examining:
Students’ academic grades in school
Program attendance
Number of returning students
Number of scholarship applicants each year