For two decades, the University of California, Berkeley has operated a program to support students who have experienced foster care or childhood homelessness. The initiative, which began as the Cal Independent Scholars Network and is now called Hope Scholars, marks its 20th anniversary in 2025.
The program was created after university housing employee Michelle Kniffin learned about a student arriving at Berkeley with no family support and minimal belongings. She leveraged her experience and contacts within the university to secure funding and resources for these students. Two years later, attorney Deborah Lowe Martinez became the first director after reading about the effort.
Hope Scholars started with one staff member and one student; it now has a team of four full-time employees who have assisted over 360 students since inception, including 170 this year alone. Under current director Charly King Beavers, enrollment tripled between 2020 and 2022. The program expanded to include graduate students and secured more funding for additional staff and office space.
Beavers said at a recent anniversary celebration, “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.”
The program supports not only those from foster care but also any student not raised by biological parents—such as orphans or those whose guardians were relatives. Services provided include peer mentorship, access to financial advice, mental health counseling, academic guidance, move-in packages, food pantry access, stipends of $3,000 for first-year students (and $2,000 thereafter), professional development funds, and networking opportunities.
Charly King Beavers leads the team with personal experience; she was orphaned young and raised by relatives. “You’re asking students who’ve moved through multiple schools and foster homes—who’ve faced instability and broken support systems—to arrive at one of the most demanding universities and already know how to succeed,” Beavers said.
Peer advisors like Alexis Wood—a fourth-year graduate student in geography who entered foster care at age ten—provide mentorship to help other students navigate both academic life and personal challenges. “Charly and Rebeca are always there in the way you don’t get in a university system,” Wood noted.
Financial assistance from Hope Scholars has been significant for many participants. Tristan Lombard, an early beneficiary who graduated in 2010 before pursuing work in nonprofits and higher education—and later becoming a startup marketing consultant—said: “If the university had not invested in someone like me … my life could have gone a very different route.”
The program’s alumni panel at the anniversary event included professionals such as licensed psychotherapist Sonia Aldape. She credited Hope Scholars with helping her during academic probation: “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.”
Another peer advisor is Erick Mendes—a senior double majoring in political science and business administration—who helps connect fellow scholars with campus resources. Mendes reflected on his journey: “People here are spectacular and have beaten all the odds.”
Graduate students comprise about one-fifth of current Hope Scholars participants; they receive specialized events as well as stipends up to $6,000.
During the anniversary event held at UC Berkeley’s César Chavez Student Center, Beavers announced that Hope Scholars would triple its office space due to increased demand. Kniffin commented on this growth: “That they have four staff members now — oh my God, pretty amazing.”
In her closing remarks about renaming the program to Hope Scholars in 2015, Beavers stated: “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.”
