Announcing our 2021 Inspiring Good Recipient

Inspire launched our grant program, Inspiring Good, to do something intentional and impactful as an agency that gives back to our local community.

Now in its second year, we’re excited to announce our 2021 grant recipient: Student Success Stores. Student Success Stores provides a free, anonymous store inside schools filled with hygiene products, easy-to-eat food items, school-code clothing and school supplies. Serving at all of Columbus City Schools’ 15 food sites, the organization’s goal is to ensure each child starts the school day healthy, confident, and ready to learn by providing them with the essential items they might need.

The organization also supports many new Americans and refugees in Columbus, which make up about 15 percent of the students they serve. One of their stores is inside Columbus Global Academy, a school that is working to bridge the gap for non-English speaking students. When counselors welcome students at the school for the first time, they bring them directly to the Student Success Store. For many of these students, they receive their first pair of shoes, find their unique clothing style, learn about personal hygiene and leave with cultural shelf-stable food for their family – all from the store.

While the 2020-2021 school year looks different, Student Success Stores is still providing its services to each of the 15 Columbus City Schools’ food sites and supplying pre-packaged individual and family hygiene kits and school supply kits monthly. Currently, they are serving more than 6,500 students across central Ohio.

Our work with Student Success Stores will begin in January 2021, and the Inspire team could not be more thrilled to help tell their story. To learn more about the organization, visit studentsuccessstores.org.

For more information about Inspiring Good, visit inspireprgroup.com.