The New World Foundation and Marga Incorporated, over the last several years, have been envisioning a widespread partnership that can provide numerous young people from vulnerable backgrounds access to higher education and training to work in community based organizations simultaneously.
This Civic Opportunity Initiative Network (COIN) would join institutions of higher education, community based organizations, and school districts together in ensuring that large, nationwide cohorts of high school juniors would embark on a journey that would take them through the remainder of their high school years and into an undergraduate education at a participating institution of higher education at no cost.
Concurrently, these cohorts would work as interns in community based organizations. Young people in this program would be shown a pathway to high school and college graduation, allowing them to visualize a successful educational future. They also would gain exposure to working in community organizations, helping them imagine careers in community service and the nonprofit sector.
