Growing impact

Resources are limited, yet more young people are eager to receive such help.

Zhou Jiayi, a 22-year-old from Luoyang, Henan province, faced significant challenges. After failing the graduate school entrance exam twice, she no longer qualified for the Honghu Plan, which is limited to currently enrolled students.

However, her sincerity and perseverance impressed the interviewers, and she was exceptionally accepted as a volunteer for the program — a role usually reserved for past participants.

As a volunteer, Zhou is responsible for coordinating communication between 24 mentors and their students. While dedicating herself to giving and contributing, she also gained a great deal in return.

"The mentors are very kind. They treat both the students and volunteers equally and have given me a lot of advice and guidance, too," she said. "This project deserves and needs to be seen by more people."

Adhering to the philosophy of "running a charity like a startup", Wei and the other Honghu Youth executives recruited a new CEO in the summer of 2024 to further develop the Honghu Plan.

The new CEO, Li Shumin, hails from Shangqiu, Henan province. Before joining Honghu Youth, she spent 13 years working in operations at various major internet companies, gaining extensive experience in project management.

In her view, the Honghu Plan not only supports the personal dreams of first-generation college students but also offers a possible new approach to poverty alleviation. These students, she noted, are often more likely to give back to their families and society.

"First-generation college students have demonstrated their potential by excelling academically, becoming the educational pinnacle of their families. By helping them go further and higher, we create a ripple effect," Li explained. "It's akin to venture capital investment — we allocate resources to these individuals with the hope that they will elevate their families and even their communities. In this way, the underprivileged can feel hope, and social mobility will improve."

However, she believes that Honghu Youth's efforts alone are not enough. One of the organization's next major tasks is raising social awareness about the importance of supporting first-generation college students.

Honghu Youth has reached out to sociology professors, sharing its collection of case studies and tracking the development and challenges faced by Honghu graduates to encourage comprehensive research.

They have also engaged more companies and individuals to offer students a wider range of courses, including AI literacy and psychological counseling. Additionally, efforts are underway to make some courses available online so that students who are not selected for the Honghu Plan can still access valuable support.

"For the past four or five years, we have focused on doing small yet impactful things. Now, we hope to grow bigger and stronger. This will allow us to help more people and also enhance resource equality among first-generation college students," she said.