educate. was founded in 2017 by Antonia McGrath and Lisa van Holsteijn, driven by a desire to build an organization that could ensure equitable access to quality education for all young people. From the beginning, they recognized the need for local, grassroots leadership to ensure educate.’s long-term sustainability and success.
Antonia and Lisa had both spent a year living and working in Honduran communities: Antonia as a teacher and mentor with former street youth in El Progreso and Lisa as an English teacher in Trinidad, Santa Bárbara. In this work, they had witnessed the ways in which young people in Honduras were disproportionately affected by multifaceted challenges of poverty, violence and inequality. Both university students at the time, they started educate. as a way to support people they had met through their work, with a focus on education.
As local leaders got more involved, educate. grew over time. Recognizing that formal education is only a starting point, we designed a holistic model of youth empowerment that engages learners within and beyond the classroom, creating spaces of active engagement, youth leadership, and critical, creative and holistic learning. Through this, we foster the development of young leaders who have the power to drive change in their families, schools and communities.
Read on to see how we have accomplished this, one step at a time:
2017
educate. was founded in March 2017 by Antonia McGrath and Lisa van Holsteijn – both university students at the time – after they had both spent a year living and working in Honduran communities.
2018
In 2018, our first school-based community libraries opened at the Adrian Mejia primary school in El Progreso and the Guadalupe Ulloa primary school in Trinidad, led by local school teachers and parents.
We also took on our first two scholarship students: Stephanie Chevez, studying medicine, and Tania Caballero, studying industrial engineering.
2019
educate.’s third and fourth libraries opened at the Las Lagunas and La Florida primary schools, both in rural villages and run by a single teacher for grades 1-6.
That same year, Walter Dubon, president of the Las Lagunas library committee, joined the team as educate.’s first local Projects Coordinator.
2020
We were recognized by The Big Issue Magazine on the list of the Top 100 Changemakers: Defeating poverty, and won an Erasmus + International Volunteer Youth Award.
2021
Despite school closures during the pandemic, we were able to support the opening of three more libraries in the communities of Las Delicias, La Alegria and El Tigre – all rural communities in the municipality of Trinidad – which become vital resources for children who were learning from home.
2022
2022 was a transformational year for educate. We signed a partnership agreement with the local municipality to begin work on our Youth Center, and also launched our high school scholarship programme with a first 10 students as schools reopened after two years of school closures post-pandemic. As part of their scholarship, these students met every Saturday throughout the year to participate in workshops and community activities, including the preparation of the educate. Youth Center, which was inaugurated that November.
2023
2023 marked our first year of youth programmes taking place at the Youth Center on a weekly basis. With a space to call our own, we were able to gather our scholars every Saturday, host leadership workshops, reforestation campaigns, run an art course, and teach computer classes. In 2023, we also celebrated the graduation of our first five high school scholarship students, all first generation graduates in their families.
2024
In 2024 we published our first strategic plan and hired our first local Executive Director, Natalia Anariba, who brought valuable expertise and leadership to our rapidly growing organisation. That year we expanded our youth programmes, hiring several scholarship students as youth leaders to run programmes in art, STEM, audiovisual communications, and sport. We also began to focus more strongly on gender equity and pregnancy prevention. Our scholarship programme grew to include 30 students in high school and university, and we opened our 10th library at the Jesus Regalado primary school.
We know that our holistic model for grassroots youth empowerment has the potential to scale exponentially, driving long lasting change that is led by youth, for youth. As our model has demonstrated its impact, our plans for the future have become ever more ambitious.
Do you want to be a part of the next phase of educate.’s journey? Consider making a donation, joining us as a volunteer, or contact us to find out more!
educate. 