For Immediate Release:
FOUNDER AND CEO OF GENERATION HOPE NICOLE LYNN LEWIS NAMED 2023 WASHINGTONIAN OF THE YEAR
WASHINGTON ⸺December 14, 2023 ⸺ Generation Hope founder and CEO, Nicole Lynn Lewis has been named a 2023 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine. Lewis is honored among 10 local heroes highlighted for their efforts to make the region a better place to live. Lewis and other recipients will appear in the publication’s January 2024 print issue, which will be on newsstands on December 21, 2023.
"When I launched Generation Hope in Washington, DC, thirteen years ago to help young parents become college graduates, I never imagined that I would receive this honor," said Nicole Lynn Lewis, Founder and CEO of Generation Hope. "I am deeply grateful to be recognized among this list of heroes whose efforts are building a better and brighter future for our community. It’s an acknowledgment of the collective passion and dedication of our team, families, and supporters. I am so inspired by this list of changemakers and excited to continue the momentum of Generation Hope’s work and impact."
Since 2010, Lewis and Generation Hope have worked daily to change the statistic that less than 2% of teen mothers will earn their degrees before 30. As a former teen mother who put herself through the College of William & Mary with her three-month-old daughter in tow, Lewis understands the often tumultuous path student parents face when working to create a better for themselves and their families. Across the country, nearly 4 million college students are also parenting. Generation Hope has been dedicated to rallying around this population to help them earn college degrees and forge a path to economic opportunity. Since its inception, Generation Hope has celebrated 170 degrees earned and served 450 young parents at more than 20 different two- and four-year schools in the Washington D.C. metro region.
"Like previous Washingtonians of the Year, this year’s honorees are doing incredible work to help those in our community—and to help the city itself—succeed,” said Washingtonian editor Sherri Dalphonse. “This annual article is a reminder that one person really can make a difference."
In 2023, Lewis led the organization as it expanded its direct support for student parents nationally - now serving 26 teen parents in college in New Orleans, Louisiana - and deepened its efforts to catalyze systemic change across higher education institutions. Generation Hope’s technical assistance program, FamilyU, helps colleges enhance their supports for parenting students. Through their FamilyU Cohorts, they have impacted nearly 100,000 student parents attending 16 institutions across the country. This year, the organization also launched its FamilyU Seal, a national certification that recognizes higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations making strides in intentionally serving student parents. Generation Hope will continue to build their efforts to bring this work to the national spotlight with its first-ever national conference, HOPE 2024, which aims to accelerate economic mobility for families, March 13 -15, 2024 in New Orleans.
Washingtonian will celebrate honorees of the 2023 Washingtonians of the Year at its yearly luncheon on January 10, 2024.
To learn more about Lewis and her work through Generation Hope, please visit www.generationhope.org/about-nicole-lynn-lewis.
Media Contacts
Brionna Miller
brionna@whitpr.com
973.861.3554
Amani Saleem
amani@whitpr.com
862.763.6502
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About Generation Hope
To ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility, Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming. @supportgenhope