The White House's first National First Gen Day Celebration (Nov 8, 2023)
You are not alone.
Although it can feel that way sometimes, the reality is that first gen students make up more than half (54%) of all undergraduates in the US.*
We're a big vibrant community of trailblazers, cycle breakers, and dreamers, yet we know that first gen students often face financial hardship that goes well beyond the cost of tuition.
That's where the First Gen Fund comes in.
You've already gotten yourself in the door. We're here to help give you the support you need to stay there…and thrive.
*source: NASPA
Almost three quarters (73%) of Latino undergraduate students are first gen, as are two-thirds of Black students (65%) and 64% of American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/or other Pacific Islander students.**
*source: FGCSNS, Bendixen & Amandi **source: NASPA
Almost three quarters (73%) of Latino undergraduate students are first gen, as are two-thirds of Black students (65%) and 64% of American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/or other Pacific Islander students.**
*FGCSNS, Bendixen & Amandi
**NASPA
Letter from our Founder
I never set out to start a nonprofit when I wrote and published my memoir First Gen back in 2023. Back then, motivated by conversations I was having with thousands of first gen students across the country, I simply wanted to do something – anything - to help address the crippling financial burden these young people were facing.
And I wanted to do it fast. No red tape, no GPA threshold, no citizenship requirement - just direct support to students who needed it.
Our Founding Partners
Meet Our Fellows
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"Not only is this fellowship supporting me financially, but it is validating my story as the eldest daughter of immigrant Mexican parents."
Liz Moreno
University of Arizona
College of Veterinary Medicine -
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"This fellowship will help me close the financial gaps I've experienced as a student pursuing higher education."
Kaelyn De La Cruz
The State University of New York
College at Genescor -
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"It is very inspiring to obtain this fellowship, knowing that my hard work is paying off."
Estefany Vazquez
Edgecombe Community College
North Carolina -
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"Beyond alleviating financial strain, this fellowship provides more than support for my studies. It grants me a profound sense of encouragement on my first-gen journey."
Oscar Silva
University of North Texas
Our Advisory Board
Kimberly Jones
President
Council for Opportunity in Education
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On October 1, 2023, Kimberly Jones assumed the presidency of the Council for Opportunity in Education. For nearly two decades, she has served as a leading advocate for low-income students, first-generation students, students with disabilities, and other marginalized learners. Previously, Ms. Jones fulfilled several roles at the Council. In her present role, she serves as the chief executive officer of the Council, which represents the interests of its member colleges, universities, and community-based agencies that serve nearly 900,000 students in the Federal TRIO Programs. As president, she serves as the primary liaison between the Council and the United States Congress, the Executive Branch, and all governmental agencies as well as all other postsecondary education associations. Additionally, she oversees the organization’s professional development offerings for college access and success educators; scholarly and experiential learning opportunities for low-income, first-generation students; and the research agenda of COE’s Pell Institute for the Study of Higher Education.
Prior to joining COE, Ms. Jones was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at the law firm of Dow Lohnes, PLLC (now Cooley LLP), where she advised clients on a variety of broadcast and media law issues.
Ms. Jones has served in leadership roles within various professional and civic organizations, including the Committee for Education Funding, of which she served as President. She is an inaugural Advisory Board Member for Black History 365, a comprehensive textbook and curriculum guide designed for students and educators that spans the breadth of Black American history, and a Board Member of Marked By COVID, a non-partisan charitable organization that promotes accountability, recognition, and justice for the millions of victims of COVID-19, including her father. Ms. Jones also a member of the Junior League of Washington and volunteers with the DC Family & Youth Initiative, an organization that provides mentorship and support for young people in and aging out of the foster care system in the Washington, DC metro area.
A Harry S. Truman Scholar, Ms. Jones is a graduate of Yale University and the Georgetown University Law Center. In 2016, Ms. Jones was named one of the “40 Under 40 Nation’s Best Advocates” by the National Bar Association and also received the organization’s Excellence in Activism Award. In 2018, she was selected for the Diversity Executive Leadership Program sponsored by ASAE, the American Society of Association Executives. In 2021, she earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from ASAE.
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Mike de la Rocha is a visionary strategist, acclaimed artist, and compelling voice for change. Celebrated as one of the most influential changemakers of our era, Mike has been behind several of the largest policy victories and cultural shifts in United States history. He’s earned accolades as one of GOOD magazine’s top 100 people reshaping our world, recipient of the AFL-CIO’s prestigious Justice, Peace and Freedom Award, and was lauded as a groundbreaking innovator by Stanford Social Innovation Review. A proud alumnus of UCLA, Mike co-founded Revolve Impact, one of the leading creative agencies in the world, and Tepito Coffee, one of the fastest growing Latinx coffee companies in America who works with Homeboy Industries to provide quality jobs to formerly incarcerated people.
Mike de la Rocha
Founder
Revolve Impact & Tepito Coffee
Helen Torres
Chief Executive Officer
Hispanas Organized for Political Equality
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Helen Iris Torres is the CEO of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), where she leads one of the nation’s most influential Latina organizations. As the CEO of HOPE for 23 years, Helen has strategically built a Latina leadership and advocacy infrastructure in California, composed of thousands of civically engaged Latina leaders serving in elected and appointed office, as business, philanthropic and community leaders.
Ms. Torres has led coalitions in California that have advocated for the first Latina to serve on the CPUC, and the first Latina appointed to the California Supreme Court. She has created robust pathways to leadership for Latinas in high school to Latinas across the United States, resulting in over 1,600 leadership positions being filled by Latinas.
She has served on various commissions under Governors Davis, Schwarzenegger, and Brown, overseeing AmeriCorps funding and governing on the influential “Little Hoover Commission.” Ms. Torres is a member of The Southern California chapter of International Women’s Forum, and an advisor on a workforce committee for the 2028 Olympics. She has been recognized by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a “community hero” and by Hispanics in Philanthropy for her advocacy work on behalf of Latinas.
Giovanna Gonzalez
Financial Educator and Author
Cultura & Cash
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Giovanna "Gigi" Gonzalez is a TikTok influencer, financial educator, and author of the bestselling book Cultura and Cash. During The Great Resignation, she quit her 10 year corporate career to pursue her true passion: teaching financial literacy to young adults.
Gigi teaches personal finance and career navigation for First Gen at various organizations and on her TikTok account @thefirstgenmentor. She was named 40 under 40 by the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement, "Latinx to Watch" by Hispanic Executive Magazine and Top 25 Creator by Fast Company.
Her work has been featured on NASDAQ, Business Insider, and Mitu.
Karim Webb
Principal
Webb Investments
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Karim Webb is an Entrepreneurial Activist and a Principal at Webb Investments, an investment company aligning instruments of economic opportunity with and for people residing where opportunity exists. He is co-founder of Positive Cash Flow (PCF) Restaurant Management, a franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings ("BWW"), which has four restaurants in the Los Angeles area, with four additional units in development. Webb's leadership and advocacy for a more equitable restaurant industry earned him a spot on the 2021 NRN Power List.
Appointed by Former Mayor Eric Garcetti and affirmed by Mayor Karen Bass, Webb serves as President, Board of Airport Commissioners on the Los Angeles World Airport Commission (LAWA) and holds various board positions, including the California Community Foundation, the African-American Board Leadership Institute, Everytable, the Digital Restaurant Association, and the Living Through Giving Foundation: Hashtag Lunchbag. Additionally, Webb is a Corporate Advisor for Brotherhood Crusade and an Advisor to the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance (MFHA).
Webb is a Venture Partner in Slauson & Co., an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the tools, platforms, and people aiding in small businesses' development, democratizing access to business ownership. He is a Partner in Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, an inclusive space for creators, entrepreneurs, and families with a mission to bring quality ingredients and good vibes to the community.
He is also a spokesperson for BLOOM, an initiative of CCF that seeks to create a more positive and productive future for 14-18-year-old Black males living in South Los Angeles who are, or have been, under the supervision of the L.A. County Probation Department.
Deana Waintraub Stafford
Vice President for Field Development and Engagement, FirstGen Forward
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Deana Waintraub Stafford serves as vice president for field development and engagement with FirstGen Forward, formerly the Center for First-generation Student Success, and is responsible for skill building and collaborations, curriculum and learning design, and scholarly knowledge and publications. Previously, Deana led strategic marketing and communications, the organization’s website, the nation's first recognition program First-gen Forward, and the National First-Generation College Celebration in partnership with the Council for Opportunity in Education.
Prior to joining the Center team, Deana supported the University of Cincinnati’s Gen-1 Program, an acclaimed living and learning community that supports first-generation, low-income students. In her role, Deana was responsible for developing and implementing an evidence-based curriculum, advising students, and streamlining communication to influence persistence and retention and improve outcomes. Before transitioning to Academic and Student Affairs, Deana spent six years in Athletics as an assistant women’s soccer coach. During her time in college athletics, Deana implemented a holistic development model influencing student-athlete success beyond the undergraduate experience and promoting career readiness.
A former student-athlete and varsity letter winner, Deana earned a B.S. in education from the University of Dayton and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Slippery Rock University.
Theresa Reno-Weber
Chief Executive Officer
GoodMaps
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Theresa Reno-Weber is a veteran, business executive, and former Louisville government official who has spent her career solving complex problems and serving others. A Coast Guard Academy graduate and 10-year Veteran, Theresa served in the Persian Gulf and as a Sea Marshall post September 11th, 2001. With a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, four years at global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and five years as a Deputy Mayor in Louisville Metro Government, she is skilled in taking ideas from concept to completion. Reno-Weber is particularly proud of her work to develop the
internationally lauded LouisStat program, which leveraged government data to identify areas of needed improvement and trained hundreds of employees in Lean, Six Sigma, and Project Management to implement efficiencies in excess of $5M annually.
Across her career she’s demonstrated her strength in building relationships and partnerships that yield step-changes in performance for the organizations and people she leads.
As former President & CEO of the multistate Metro United Way headquartered in Louisville, KY and the current CEO of global start-up GoodMaps, she’s raised more than $145 million since 2017 by inspiring others with her vision. In this work, Reno-Weber helped implement a multi-state technology platform and governance effort to share data, coordinate care, and analyze outcomes across 300+ participating organizations in health, education, and social services to improve outcomes for individuals and families struggling to thrive.
Born in Connecticut, she moved to Louisville, KY in 2010 with her husband, Ben Reno-Weber, a native Louisvillian. Together, they’re raising their three children, 13-year-old twins, Paul and Sophia, and 10-year-old Ava. A Girl Scout Gold Award recipient, Theresa believes in the Girl Scout adage to “always leave a place better than you found it”. With this spirit in mind, she’s committed to helping create a better Kentucky, United States, and world for current and future generations.
As CEO of GoodMaps, a digital mapping, geospatial positioning, and accessible navigation company launched out of the American Printing House for the Blind, headquartered in Louisville, KY, and on a mission is to make the world’s indoor spaces more inclusive, interactive, and joyful for all, she’s able to combine her passion with her expertise.
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Carlos Mark Vera manages the Equity Fellowships at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). The fellowships provide substantial financial aid to top-tier students from all backgrounds who plan to devote their careers to understanding and dismantling barriers to equity across society.
Before HKS, Carlos co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Pay Our Interns. Originally from Colombia, Carlos was raised in California but moved to Washington, D.C., to attend American University (AU). While at AU, Carlos was an unpaid intern at the White House, the European Parliament, and the House of Representatives. He knows firsthand the struggles of trying to survive while interning for free. As a result, he founded Pay Our Interns in 2017 with less than $2,000. Under his leadership, Pay Our Interns successfully convinced Congress to pass more than $150 million in funding for interns in Congressional offices, at the State Department, in the White House, and beyond.
Carlos’ advocacy efforts led him to be named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, Top 20 Changemaker by NBC Latino, Hispanics in Philanthropy Lideres Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, Camelback Ventures Fellow, New Profit Civic Lab Fellow, and an Aspen Ideas Fellow. He has been featured in The Washington Post, NPR’s All Things Considered, The New York Times, CNN, and The Atlantic. He also wrote for The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, USA Today, and MSNBC. Carlos has testified as an expert witness in front of the U.S. House of Representatives and the California State Assembly. Most recently, Carlos was featured in an S&P Global case study titled "Entrepreneurial Leadership Must Help Meet America’s 21st Century Challenges in a Post-Pandemic World” and in PBS’s College Roadtrip Series.
A former college dropout, Carlos went back to school and graduated from AU in May 2020 with a B.A. in Political Science. He also served in the Army Reserves as a generator mechanic. When he's not writing, Carlos is most likely at a National Park hiking up a mountain or participating in a long-distance bike ride.
Carlos Mark Vera
Co-Founder, Pay Our Interns
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Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated theatrical producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit immigrant storytelling organization Define American, twice named one of the World's Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. He is also a co-founder of 1587 Sneakers, the world's first Asian American sneaker brand.
His best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, an examination of America's foundational Black and White racial binary, and where everyone else fits within and outside that binary, will be published by Knopf Doubleday in 2025.In 2019, he co-produced Heidi Schreck's acclaimed Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me, which was nominated for a Tony Award for "Best Play" and is streamable on Amazon Prime Video. His second Broadway production, a staging of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love, played at the Broadway Theatre in 2023.
In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. He then produced and directed Documented, a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. Released theatrically, broadcast on CNN, and streamed on Netflix, it received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for "Outstanding Documentary." Also in 2015, MTV aired White People, an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what it means to be young and white in a demographically-changing America.
Accolades he has received include the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA, and honorary degrees from Emerson College, Colby College, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Passionate about promoting equity in education for all students, he serves on the advisory board of TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant students, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the California State University, the largest four-year public university system in the United States.
A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a proud graduate of San Francisco State University (2004), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and Mountain View High School (2000). An elementary school named after him opened in his hometown of Mountain View, California in August 2019.
Jose Antonio Vargas
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author