At Step Up, we're committed to continuing our important work until every young woman nationwide has access to mentorship - but none of it would be possible without the people and organizations that believe in us ( and our girls).
Meet a few Step Up partners who have gone above and beyond to support, uplift, and empower the next generation of women and leaders.
Spotlighting Our Partners
At Step Up, we’re proud to collaborate with organizations that are changing lives through education, mentorship, and community. This month, we're featuring City Year Chicago and PathMakers at Agnes Scott College—two powerful partners that support young people in bold and inspiring ways.
Hear directly from City Year Chicago and PathMakers about the impact they're making.
City Year Chicago
303 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL 60601
Mission, Goals & Who They Serve
Target Audience:
Young adults ages 18–25
Mission:
City Year helps students and schools succeed while preparing the next generation of leaders. Our AmeriCorps Members provide support to students, classrooms, and the entire school community. Schools that partner with City Year are two to three times more likely to see improvements in English, math assessments, and other critical skills.
Goals:
Our main goal is to keep students on track academically using our Whole School, Whole Child (WSWC) model, which focuses on attendance, behavior, and course performance in English Language Arts and Math. Our AmeriCorps Members serve as near-peer mentors, offering individualized and classroom-wide support to help students stay on the path to high school graduation.
Services & Community Engagement
City Year Chicago currently serves over 14,000 students in grades 3 through 10 across 31 Chicago Public Schools and one school in Flossmoor School District. We focus on high-need schools throughout the Chicagoland area.
We deliver our Whole School, Whole Child model through 262 dedicated AmeriCorps Members who serve as Student Success Coaches, providing day-to-day support for students' academic and personal growth.
Partnership with Step Up
We’re proud to partner with Step Up to lead dynamic women empowerment and mentoring panels and workshops. Together, we emphasize the importance of women supporting women—reaching back to lift others as they rise.
This partnership creates opportunities for our female AmeriCorps Members and staff to connect with accomplished professional women who generously share their stories, insights, and advice. These powerful conversations inspire and guide our Members as they explore and shape their own career journeys.
We’re incredibly grateful for this partnership and excited about expanding our programming to create even more spaces where mentorship, empowerment, and growth can thrive.
Did You Know?
City Year’s Life After City Year (LACY) program is an exciting initiative designed to support our AmeriCorps Members as they plan their next steps after service.
Through LACY, Members gain access to a wide range of career and education opportunities by partnering with employers across both public and private sectors. Over the course of the year, they take part in targeted professional development experiences that build essential personal and career-ready skills—helping them thrive wherever they go next.
It’s not just a transition—it’s a launchpad. We’re proud to invest in our Members’ continued growth through this impactful program.
Final Thoughts
We’re honored to be featured as a Highlighted Partner and are excited to continue growing our partnership in the future.
PathMakers at Agnes Scott College
Agnes Scott College — Decatur, GA
Mission, Goals & Who They Serve
Mission:
PathMakers’ mission is to support all first-generation college students at Agnes Scott by creating a strong sense of community and offering career development opportunities.
Target Audience:
First-generation college students at Agnes Scott College
Services & Community Engagement
- We offer first-gen career support through workshops and partnerships with Agnes Scott’s Career Exploration Center.
- We build community through fun campus events like tote painting, bingo, and more!
- We also host larger celebrations like:
- The Storytelling Banquet in the fall, where first-gen speakers share their personal stories.
- The Tri-Alpha Reception in the spring, which was held at the college president’s home.
- Our annual Spotlight Banquet, an end-of-year award ceremony honoring first-gen trailblazers.
- We send out monthly newsletters full of opportunities and upcoming events.
- We collaborate with community partners, including Step Up!
Partnership with Step Up
Last fall, we hosted a Power Talk called "Who's In Your Circle", where we explored the power of networking. Some students even signed up to be mentees through the Step Up program after that event!
In April, we held another Power Talk, "Empowering Your Voice", where we had the chance to network with amazing mentors and learn how to confidently use our voices in our future careers.
Did You Know?
PathMakers is a student-led organization—with support from the Dean of Students and the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership, Engagement and Service at Agnes Scott.
Final Thoughts
We’re so happy to be part of this newsletter and community! We hope we can continue to participate.
Mentor Highlight
Karen Kwetey
Managing Director, PwC
Q: What inspired you to become a mentor with Step Up?
A: I found the opportunity to participate in mentoring young women to be a great way to give back to my community and pay it forward to those who mentored me—especially as I was finishing both high school and college.
Q: What is your favorite part about mentoring?
A: I like being able to form a connection and see the "spark" when my mentee figures out how to leverage their interests into a new career path—or when they spot an opportunity to pursue something they previously thought wasn’t possible.
Q: In what ways have you been involved with Step Up as a mentor?
A: I’ve mentored young adults through career coaching sessions, participated as a mentor during Power Talks, and connected with teens at Step Up on Campus events.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our community partners?
A: I find Step Up to be a valuable and rewarding program. I like that the goal is to provide options and opportunities for young women, and that there is no one "right path to success." Success is what you define for yourself and the road you take to accomplish your goals.
Is there someone at your school who would like to receive these monthly updates from Step Up? Contact the Director of Community Engagement, Maya Menon, at maya@suwn.org.
