Community Change Projects
Announcing 2025 Continuing Community Change Projects
Celebrating Student-Led Impact: sustaining 26 Community Change Projects founded by Bezos Scholars.
By Adriana Jackson, BSP Staff
• Estimated reading time:1 min
We are proud to highlight the continuation of 26 Community Change Projects, each founded by previous Bezos Scholars. This year, seven projects from the previous cohort are continuing forward, joining 19 projects that have existed for more than three years, with one project in its 15th year! Together, these projects reflect innovative responses to community needs and the sustained dedication of student leaders who carry them forward. As each project evolves, new leaders are strengthening teams, refining their approach, and designing engaging, community-centered work. We’re excited to showcase these projects and recognize the students, teams, and communities that make community impact possible.
2025 Continuing Community Change Projects
Asian American HOPE (Health, Outreach, Prevention, Engagement)
Launched in 2024
by Jenny Au, Anna Park
Mission: To connect trusted, low-cost mental support services to Asian Americans facing barriers to accessing them by building partnerships and providing culturally relevant information and resources.
Ask a Friend (formerly Civics Delivered)
Launched in 2019
by Sarah Tran
Mission: To inspire action among teens and increase awareness of mental health challenges.
CLIP (Creating Legal Immigration Pathways)
Launched in 2023
by Aayushi Garg
Mission: Advocating for local immigrants by streamlining connections with legal and professional resources through events with community partners.
Colton High School Wellness Fair
Launched in 2019
by Ernest Cisneros
Mission: Colton High School Wellness Fair eliminates the stigma attached to mental health by empowering students to advocate for their mental health needs.
Day 28 (formerly Youth for HOPE)
Launched in 2023
by Jessie Jingqi Lin
Mission: To advocate for and provide access to free period products to individuals lacking menstrual resources in San Bernardino County shelters through community fundraising and donations.
Don’t Oppress Youth Success
Launched in 2023
by Kim Cortes-Martinez
Mission: Through education and advocacy, we inspire educators to utilize positive relationship-building and restorative justice practices while connecting caring high school mentors of color to middle schoolers who need them most.
FLARE (Financial Literacy and Advancement for Rio Grande Valley Equity)
Launched in 2023
by David Arturo Muñoz Matta
Mission: To advocate and cultivate financial literacy for teens by providing positive learning experiences.
Golden Eagle Outreach
Launched in 2023
by Breanna Wollman
Mission: To cultivate student belonging by promoting team-building activities and service opportunities that help them learn about and connect with their community.
Hands of Hope
Launched in 2024
by Rayana Ba
Mission: To equip Jersey City high school students with lifesaving skills through CPR training and community outreach while encouraging alternative pathways beyond traditional higher education.
IGNITE (Inspiring Growth, Nurturing Innovation, and Teaching Empowerment)
Launched in 2023
by Rithika Sivapokaran
Mission: To nurture middle school students’ passion for STEM learning by providing near-peer mentorship and interactive educational activities.
IMPACT (Inclusive Muslim Program for Awareness, Community, and Tolerance)
Launched in 2024
by Kamar Sati
Mission: To engage school staff and faculty in how they can meet Muslim student’s needs through education and advocacy.
KATS Together
Launched in 2019
by Brayden York
Mission: To facilitate opportunities for collaboration between students with disabilities and the greater student body so all students are valued and recognized for their unique abilities.
LEAP (Literacy Enhancement & Advancement Project)
Launched in 2024
by Amy Zhou
Mission: To nurture young English language learners so that they confidently build their literacy skills by providing consistent after-school tutoring with caring high school volunteers.
Let’s Connect! Rancho
Launched in 2021
by Runzhi Hu
Mission: To foster a sense of comfort between students and teachers by providing fun, cost-free, and community-building-focused opportunities.
Let’s TALC (Teach, Access, Learn, Choice)
Launched in 2022
by Diya Jha
Mission: Let’s TALC offers teens opportunities for healthy stress relief and to practice informed decision-making about drugs and opioids in a supportive community.
Minds Entwined
Mynd Revolution
Launched in 2023
by Brendan Salisbury
Mission: We advocate for and create wellness centers with school communities to prioritize mental health support and resources.
NorCal Science & Technology Festival
Launched in 2015
by Julie Fukunaga
Mission: To stimulate student/educator and community engagement in STEAMS by encouraging sustainability and celebrating the fun in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
Noteworthy Music Club and Festival
Launched in 2011
by Locher Grove
Mission: To connect students and teachers who are passionate about music and music education to raise money to sponsor music education and buy new instruments for elementary school students in our community.
Project O.T.T.E.R. (Optimizing Talent in Technology, Engineering, and Readiness)
Launched in 2024
by Albert Westbrook
Mission: To expose African American students to STEM activities by providing free engineering lessons, student mentoring, and access to national engineering organizations.
South Texas Ideas Festival (STXi)
Launched in 2016
by Michael Mireles
Mission: To create a platform by and for young adults to engage them in an actionable dialogue about culture, community and identity.
STEM Connect
Launched in 2022
by Anish Aradhey
Mission: Reignite STEM academic confidence through peer mentorship and exposure to real-world STEM careers and applications.
Student Wellness Committee
Launched in 2021
by Isabel Ohakamma
Mission: Provide resources that will assist students with creating a healthy lifestyle that includes physical, mental and nutritional wellness, in addition to being a well-rounded leader in our community.
The Dewasters
Launched in 2022
by Jacqueline Ballesteros Martinez
Mission: Through education about how garbage in landfills contributes to climate change, we inspire our community to change their attitude and habits so they actively reduce their waste.
WAVE (Wellness, Activity, Vitality and Engagement)
Launched in 2024
by Olivia Farmer
Mission: To foster community and vitality for older adults by providing accessible and inclusive social programming and technology skill-building training.
Wellness 4 Washtenaw
Launched in 2023
by Dyuthi Aryasomayajula
Mission: To increase students’ knowledge of and access to mental health resources by strengthening relationships with mental health providers.
We are proud of all these Scholars, their teams and the projects they developed to positively impact their communities! Scholars are diligently working to complete their projects before graduation and ensure they are sustainable. Our goal is for projects to continue for years to come, evolving as new student leaders and adult supporters carry them forward with continued funding support from the Bezos Family Foundation. To learn more, visit the Community Change Projects page on our website.