PLATINUM2024

Bravo Programs of America Inc

Scholarships for Foster Youth

Harrison Township, MI   |  www.bravoprograms.org

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Bravo Programs of America Inc

EIN: 46-2088518


Mission

Bravo Programs of America awards scholarships and book stipends to young adults, aged 18 through 26, who are or were in the Foster Care System and are enrolled in an accredited post-secondary education program.

Notes from the nonprofit

Imagine being taken from your home and sent to live in foster care. Even if it is in your best interest, being removed from your home and family is life-altering. National statistics show the long-term impact that foster care has on children. Foster youths are 11 times more likely to experience homelessness and six times more likely to spend time in prison. And only 3% graduate from college. Losing your family should not equate to losing out on a productive future. Yet, this seems to be the case with foster youths. We believe that providing foster youths a path to higher education, be it college or trade school, will give them the means to achieve financial stability and personal independence and avoid the circumstances that lead people to homelessness and prison. But, for foster youths, it’s not only about money. It is about opportunity equality—a real chance to lead a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life. And an equal opportunity to achieve their American Dream.

Ruling year info

2014

President

Ms Julie Miller

Vice President / Founder

Ellen Lysik

Main address

34432 Jefferson A4

Harrison Township, MI 48045 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

46-2088518

Subject area info

Foster care

Equal opportunity in education

Graduate and professional education

Higher education

Vocational education

Population served info

At-risk youth

Students

NTEE code info

Foster Care (P32)

IRS subsection

501(c)(3) Public Charity

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Tax forms

Show Forms 990

Communication

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Education leads to higher income potential and improved well-being. Yet it is well documented that foster youth are at increased risk of poor educational outcomes. So instead of looking forward to better job prospects and employability, foster youth are more likely than their non-foster peers to become involved with the criminal justice system, have or father a child, or experience homeless – all by age 21. They are much less likely to graduate from college – only 3% do. It wasn’t their misstep or bad decision that put foster kids in this position, yet they are the ones paying the price. Bravo Programs of America views post-secondary education as an essential part of a foster youth’s path to success, and we aim to support them in reaching their educational goals.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Scholarship Program

Bravo Programs of America's awards scholarships for tuition and books to aged out foster youth.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Students

The primary goal of our Buddy program is to help ensure our students get the support they need to stay in school and graduate. We pair each scholarship student with a Bravo Buddy who provides support, resources, and encouragement and helps us track the student’s graduation progress.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Students

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

Macomb County Chamber of Commerce 2024

Rotary Club of Mount Clemens 2017

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of scholarships awarded to foster youth

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Students, Young adults, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Scholarship Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Total number of scholarships awarded to foster youth in our College and Vocational scholarship programs

Repeat Scholarship Awards for foster youth

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Students, Young adults, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Scholarship Program

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Number of scholarship awards that went to previous scholarship recipients. Bylaws were changed in 2017 to allow repeat scholarship awards.

College Graduation Rate for foster youth receiving scholarships

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Students, Young adults, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Scholarship Program

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

% of total number College scholarship recipients that complete a 4-year degree program. The National average for college graduation of foster youth is 3%

Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Students, Young adults

Related Program

Scholarship Program

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of scholars who graduate from four year colleges and university within six years

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Young adults, Students

Related Program

Scholarship Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Our cumulative graduation rate through 2021 is 53% compared to the national average 3% for foster youth to graduate.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

We invest in the post-secondary education of foster youth by awarding scholarships for tuition and books. Investing in their education will open doors so they can create their version of success.

The key strategy we employ is providing scholarships for tuition and books to eligible students enrolled in an accredited higher education institution and have a good academic record.

When awarding scholarships to college students, we give priority to juniors and seniors. From what we have seen, this is the time when students run out of their federal student aid funds. We aim to assist these students finish their education.

Secondarily, we run a Buddy program to help ensure our students get the support they need to stay in school and graduate.

We work closely with social workers at universities, community colleges, and other foster care related nonprofits for student referrals.

We rely on fundraisers, solicitations, grants, and donations from companies and private individuals to fund our scholarship program.

We solicit volunteers from the community to staff our Buddy program and support our fundraising activity.

Our Impact:

Our first scholarships were awarded for the Fall semester of 2014. Through the Winter semester 2023, we have awarded over $317,000 in scholarships to 89 students. Nationally, about 3% of foster care alumni earn a 4-year degree by age 26. We benchmark our performance against this metric. The following summarizes where Bravo scholarship recipients stand in reaching their educational goal as of the end of December 2023:
- 89 students served
- 169 scholarships awarded with a total value of $302k
- 42 students have graduated
- 36 students continue to work toward graduation

Our Return on Investment:

We are a fiscally responsible, all volunteer organization with very low overhead. We have a detailed application process that we believe is very effective in highlighting the most deserving students. We want to make every dollar we receive count. The following summarizes our financial performance as of the end of December 2021:
- 97% of funds received go directly to student education
- 53% of funds received have been invested in students who have reached their educational goals by age 26
- 35% of funds received have been invested in students who are track to graduate by age 26
- 12% of funds have gone to students who are no longer in school or did not graduate by age 26

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome

Financials

Bravo Programs of America Inc
Fiscal year: Jan 01 - Dec 31

Revenue vs. expenses:  breakdown

SOURCE: IRS Form 990 info
NET GAIN/LOSS:    in 
Note: When component data are not available, the graph displays the total Revenue and/or Expense values.

Financial data

SOURCE: IRS Form 990

Bravo Programs of America Inc

Revenue & expenses

Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31

SOURCE: IRS Form 990 info

Fiscal year ending: cloud_download Download Data

Bravo Programs of America Inc

Balance sheet

Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31

SOURCE: IRS Form 990 info

The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.

Fiscal year ending: cloud_download Download Data

Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

Documents
Form 1023/1024 is not available for this organization

President

Ms Julie Miller

Vice President / Founder

Ellen Lysik

Bravo Programs of America Inc

Officers, directors, trustees, and key employees

SOURCE: IRS Form 990

Compensation
Other
Related
Show data for fiscal year
Compensation data
Download up to 5 most recent years of officer and director compensation data for this organization

There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.

Bravo Programs of America Inc

Board of directors
as of 11/02/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board of directors data
Download the most recent year of board of directors data for this organization
Board co-chair

Ms Julie Miller

President

Term: 2023 -


Board co-chair

Ellen Lysik

Gerald Filipek

Filipek & Co. LLC

Ellen Lysik

Rachel LaPointe

Mastery Technologies

Julie Miller

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/1/2024

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 10/31/2024

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.