Catalyst Directory

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Breaking cycles 
and changing lives

From coast to coast, dynamic social entrepreneurs are leading transformative nonprofit organizations with a shared mission to help people transform their lives and build stronger, safer communities where all people can discover their full potential.

Search by name, issue, or city/state

Found Village

KEY ISSUE AREA

The Economy

Found Village leverages a community of adult volunteers and mentors to help youth in foster care regain the ability to trust others. While traditional mentorship models emphasize one-on-one relationships that can end prematurely and undermine the youth’s ability to trust, Found Village begins with a single mentoring relationship and then extends that trust to a wider network, providing family-like support that acts as a “village” around each youth. Found Village engagement extends into early adulthood, ensuring all youth are connected to a community.

Visit foundvillage.org/our-work
HQ: CINCINNATI, OH

Four Bands

KEY ISSUE AREA

The Economy

Four Bands Community Fund empowers Native Americans living in one of the United States' most impoverished areas to create economic opportunities, achieve financial security, and break the cycle of poverty. By offering skills training, entrepreneurial coaching, and access to loans, it enables those on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation to create sustainable businesses and increase their financial success. Four Bands embodies the traditional Lakota values of self-sufficiency, wise resource management, and ingenuity, enabling participants to honor their past while creating a brighter economic future for forthcoming generations.

Visit fourbands.org
HQ: EAGLE BUTTE, SD

FreeWorld

KEY ISSUE AREA

Criminal Justice

FreeWorld empowers people who have been in prison with educational support and technical skills to enter into high-wage, high-demand careers so they can live fulfilling lives, prison-free. FreeWorld aims to break the cycle of recidivism and generational poverty by demonstrating the potential of reentering citizens, who can create meaningful career pathways, and providing critical support services for the individuals and their families to overcome significant barriers.

Visit www.joinfreeworld.com
HQ: SAN JOSE, CA

Fresh Lifelines for Youth

KEY ISSUE AREA

Criminal Justice

Fresh Lifelines for Youth empowers young people to break the cycle of juvenile violence, crime, and incarceration by providing law and leadership training, one-on-one mentoring, and essential education on their legal rights, enabling them to take their life in a positive direction and contribute to their communities. FLY youth embrace the chance to become more than their past mistakes.

Visit flyprogram.org
HQ: MILPITAS, CA

Friends of the Children

KEY ISSUE AREA

The Economy

Friends of the Children knows that a single, meaningful adult relationship can make a tremendous difference in the life of a vulnerable child. It pairs a paid mentor or “Friend” with each child in its program, and that Friend becomes an ingrained and permanent fixture in the child’s life for 12.5 years, providing support and teaching valuable life skills. These pairings start in early childhood, forming a positive, healthy relationship to alter the trajectory of a young life and provide stability and the chance to rise to their full potential.

Visit friendsofthechildren.org
HQ: PORTLAND, OR

FriendshipWorks

KEY ISSUE AREA

Health Care

FriendshipWorks connects older adults with volunteers for friendship and assistance, reducing social isolation and loneliness through relationship-building and community support. By creating companionship that destigmatizes loneliness and improves both mental and physical health outcomes, FriendshipWorks is a source of mutually beneficial relationships rooted in compassion and human connection.

Visit fw4elders.org
HQ: BOSTON, MA

Fugees Family

KEY ISSUE AREA

Immigration

Fugees Family provides a holistic education that focuses on the unique academic, social, and psychological development needs of refugee students to help improve the lives and long-term achievement potential of immigrant children.

Visit www.fugeesfamily.org
HQ: COLUMBUS, OH

GatherFor

KEY ISSUE AREA

The Economy

GatherFor builds microcommunities of people who are actively involved in each other’s lives, helping each other grow and thrive as they work through issues related to joblessness, food and housing insecurity, lack of child care, and more. GatherFor identifies and organizes people into “neighbor teams” to support one another and strengthen feelings of belonging, believing that neighbors are best positioned to help each other through life’s many ups and downs.

Visit gatherfor.org
HQ: SANTA FE, NM

Generation USA (ChooseU)

KEY ISSUE AREA

Future of Work

Generation USA partners with educational institutions to offer intensive, boot camp-style training that applies to growing fields such as website development, information technology, and customer service. Participants gain technical, behavioral, and mindset skills as they get on the path to long-term career success.

Visit choose-u.org
HQ:

Genesys Works

KEY ISSUE AREA

The Economy

Genesys Works provides low-income high school students with access to training, work opportunities, and networks that fuels their aspirations and positions them for career success. Paid internships, mentoring, and college and career coaching ensures students have the knowledge and experience to achieve goals they may not have previously thought possible. As these young adults move into professional careers, they close economic opportunity gaps, contribute to a more diverse workforce, and create change in their communities.

Visit genesysworks.org
HQ: HOUSTON, TX

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