For two decades, the University of California, Berkeley’s Hope Scholars program has provided support to students with backgrounds in foster care or those who have experienced housing insecurity. Established in 2005 by Michelle Kniffin, then an assistant director of university housing, the program began after Kniffin learned about a new student arriving at Berkeley alone and unprepared for campus life.
Tristan Lombard, an early participant who graduated in 2010, recalled his initial skepticism about the program: “If the university had not invested in someone like me and given me the financial aid, given me just some bed sheets, a welcome week, my life could have gone a very different route.” He later became a marketing consultant following work in nonprofits and higher education.
Now known as Hope Scholars, the initiative has expanded from supporting one student to assisting over 360 students since its inception. Under current director Charly King Beavers, enrollment tripled between 2020 and 2022. The team now includes four full-time staff members and offers services to graduate students as well.
Beavers emphasized the importance of investing in these students: “20 years of proving that when we invest in students who have experienced foster care or childhood homelessness, we are investing in brilliance, in leaders, in scholars and changemakers.”
Hope Scholars provides resources such as move-in packages, food pantry access, stipends—$3,000 for first-year students and $2,000 for subsequent years—and mentorship opportunities. Students can also connect with financial advisers, mental health clinicians, and academic counselors; Rebeca Borges serves as an academic counselor after having been a Hope Scholar herself.
Peer advisor Alexis Wood described her journey through college as challenging due to unfamiliarity with academic culture. She said: “I wasn’t a part of Berkeley Hope Scholars at that point but I really wish I had been.” Now a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in geography at UC Berkeley and peer adviser for the program’s graduate cohort—which makes up about one-fifth of participants—Wood helps others navigate advanced-degree applications and academic challenges.
The program fosters community through events like game nights and gratitude dinners while preparing students for professional life by offering networking practice with retired professors and providing funds for internships or job-related expenses.
Senior Erick Mendes serves as another peer adviser. Set to become the first college graduate in his biological family after entering foster care at age five before being adopted at ten years old, Mendes noted: “It’s just much more approachable…to talk to a fellow student.” Reflecting on his experience he added: “People here are spectacular and have beaten all the odds.”
At its recent anniversary celebration held this November—attended by alumni including Lombard—the program announced it would triple its office space within the César Chavez Student Center due to increased participation.
Sonia Aldape spoke on how Hope Scholars influenced her career path toward becoming a therapist: “It is also one of the reasons I ultimately became a therapist because I saw the great impact it had simply being an emotionally supportive space.”
In closing remarks at the event Beavers explained why renaming it ‘Hope Scholars’ was meaningful: “Hope is not a passive word; it’s not something to wait for. It’s something we build every day together. It’s what carried our students through uncertainty and challenge. It’s what turned this small program into a legacy.”
