Mission Statement
The rate of illiteracy in rural areas of the Philippines is disproportionate to the national average. Real Growth seeks to establish a center for literacy training wherein adults, young adults, and children will learn English from instructors with donated texts. The project has selected a dilapidated building in an outlying mountain village and will renovate the structure and fill the shelves with books. It will ensure that qualified teachers volunteer to teach English to native Tagalog speakers. Overall, the project seeks to reduce the rates of unemployment and disease as byproducts of the benefits of literacy.

Goals
The primary focus of this program is to provide free literacy courses for all who wish to attend. The courses, taught at Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels, will specifically focus on:

• Language mechanics
• Grammatical structure and composition
• Reading proficiency

Steps

• Procure the village building, assess construction costs for renovation.
• Hold fundraisers for construction materials, books, supplies, and funds for student and teacher transportation to and from the site.
• Renovate classrooms using student labor.
• Recruit students and teachers from the University of Santo Thomas Teaching Program to volunteer at the site. Test prospective teachers using university exams for quality assurance.
• Design teaching curriculum with appropriate reading assignments.
• Promote courses through word of mouth in nearby villages.

Results
Real Growth created a literacy center that successfully brought talented teachers and motivated students to the reading table. The renovated library procured hundreds of books, teaching materials, and valuable construction supplies from local schools, businesses, and government agencies. The education majors at the university who made up most of the volunteer teaching staff were very successful in implementing appropriate curricula for each reading level. The surrounding villages were so pleased with the project that they asked for the program to be held year-round. Leadership Initiatives contributes to the financial upkeep of the project with stateside fundraisers while the University of Santo Thomas holds local fundraisers for books and transportation reimbursement. The university also continues to supply the project with a steady stream of volunteers who are currently teaching three English courses.

Mission Statement
It is often difficult for children in impoverished neighborhoods to navigate successfully to a productive adulthood, let alone overcome the obstacles to higher education. Barriers such as transportation, lack of preparation, and financial burdens have the potential to claim some of our brightest minds. The Hope Creation Foundation seeks to ease the transition from high school to an institution of higher learning for rural students by preparing them for entrance exams and standardized tests.

Goals
The students of the Hope Creation Foundation aim to increase the proficiency of standardized test taking among rural Filipino high school students. Many university students spend thousands of pesos each year buying practice testing materials; the Creation Foundation will solicit the students to donate their old materials. The curriculum will be to familiarize the high school students with the exam through these preparatory texts.

Steps

• Contact rural high schools to recruit interested students and classrooms as teaching venues.
• Recruit volunteer students from the University of Santo Thomas to teach practice tests.
• Procure old practice testing materials from university students.
• Coordinate student and teacher schedules for instruction and practice testing.

Results
The Hope Creation Foundation secured a classroom, a university volunteer, and two high school students for a pilot run of the project. The project, with its low teacher to student ratio and the editing aid of university professors, successfully prepared its students for the college entrance exam. The project currently has more than twenty students enrolled.