Spring 2026
Dear Friends of Hope Ignites Chicago,
This spring, Scholars are reaching life-changing milestones.
With your support, even more young people will follow.
Spring is a defining season at Hope Ignites Chicago. Our Scholars and Collegians are preparing to cross stages, earn diplomas, and take exciting next steps toward college and career.
Milestones like these don’t happen by chance. They are the result of years of preparation, persistence, and a strong circle of support that helps young people step into the future with purpose and confidence.
These educational achievements are made possible because of you. This year, because of your support and belief in our mission, seven senior Scholars will graduate from high school and matriculate to colleges across the country, pursuing fields from education to engineering and molecular biology. Five Collegians will also earn their degrees, many having overcome significant challenges to reach this moment.
As a 14-year-old growing up in North Lawndale, Kye was helping hold her family together, balancing schoolwork while caring for her younger brother as her mother worked tirelessly to make ends meet. Today, she is a senior leader who mentors and inspires. This fall, Kye will start a new chapter, studying early childhood education and African American studies at Howard University, filled with confidence, ambition, and possibility.
Through Hope Ignites Chicago, Kye found more than academic opportunity. She found stability, mentorship, structure, and a community that helped her believe her future could be bigger than the limitations placed around her. “Hope Ignites gave me more than tuition,” she shared. “It gave me dreams I didn’t know were possible.”
“When I look back on my life years from now, my story will be full of joy and lifelong friendships because people chose to support Hope Ignites Chicago.”
Your support makes stories like Kye’s possible. In her own words, “You gave relief to a single mother, dignity to a young girl, breathing room to a family, and space for me to grow into who I was meant to be.”
By supporting Hope Ignites Chicago, you are not simply funding a program; you are giving young people the space, stability, and support they need to discover who they are meant to beco me. You are ensuring that young people are not defined by statistics or circumstance, but are empowered to rise, lead, and build futures without limitations.
“I am not charity,” Kye says. “I am proof of impact.”
Hope Ignites Chicago creates pathways forward for young people with tremendous academic ambition but limited access to the resources needed to fulfill their potential. Imagine a future beyond survival. Imagine a second girls’ home, filled with young people making lifelong friendships like Kye, and making plans for a brighter future with excitement and purpose. Kye credits Hope Ignites Chicago with expanding her vision of what is possible for her life. Will you help ensure more girls have the opportunity to imagine, and achieve, brighter futures of their own?
Your support fuels every aspect of the Hope Ignites Chicago experience. You are part of every acceptance letter opened, every diploma earned, and every new beginning our Scholars step into. Quite simply, we could not do this work without you.
As we celebrate these achievements, we invite you to continue to walk alongside our Scholars? Your gift today will help the next class of Scholars access the same opportunities necessary to learn, grow, and succeed.
Thank you for being part of the Hope Ignites Chicago community.
Together in hope,
Karen P. Croteau
President
Hope Ignites Chicago